The Spanish Ministry of Health announced on Wednesday that the mandatory isolation time for people who test positive for COVID-19 and for unvaccinated people who have been in close contact with an infected person will be reduced from 10 to seven. days.
A public health commission representing experts and heads of health from Spain’s central and regional governments approved the new rules “unanimously,” the ministry said in a statement. Spain does not currently require quarantines for people vaccinated with double doses who have been in contact with a positive case.
The new rules follow similar actions announced by health authorities in the United States, the United Kingdom, and other European countries.
According to the Ministry of Health, Spain confirmed 100,000 new infections on Tuesday, bringing the infection rate from 14 days to 1,360 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, almost double the level of a week before and five times the incidence rate at the beginning. from December.
Although primary care health services are now feeling the strain of people presenting with symptoms and requiring testing, hospitalizations are lower than during previous virus waves. Experts attribute it to the fact that more than 80% of the 47 million residents in Spain are vaccinated.
For his part, the president of the Spanish government Pedro Sánchez ruled out on Wednesday any immediate national restriction in response to the omicron variant of the coronavirus.
Sánchez said official data shows that although omicron spreads more quickly, it generally causes milder symptoms and therefore puts less pressure on Spanish hospitals than previous strains.
“It is clear that we are in a radically different situation,” Sánchez told reporters at his year-end conference. “We are better and more prepared to face the omicron variant.”
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