Israel Shortens COVID-19 Quarantine Period for Confirmed Cases from 10 Days to 7 Days

On the 9th (local time), travelers are coming and going at the arrival hall of Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel. The Israeli government began to ease quarantine measures by reopening the border, which had been closed amid a surge in new COVID-19 cases, starting from this day.
[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Chunhee Lee] Despite the daily increase in COVID-19 cases, Israel, which is implementing relaxed quarantine policies, is shortening the isolation period for confirmed cases.

On the 11th (local time), the Israeli Ministry of Health announced that it has decided to shorten the isolation period for COVID-19 confirmed cases from 10 days to 7 days, following the recommendation of its advisory committee. The advisory committee explained the reason for the recommendation, stating, "COVID-19 confirmed cases actively spread the virus during the first few days of infection, and the risk of virus transmission gradually decreases over the course of one week." Earlier last month, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also shortened the isolation period from 10 days to 5 days for asymptomatic confirmed cases.

The advisory committee also discussed the issue of expanding the target group for the fourth vaccination, which is currently limited to high-risk groups such as immunocompromised individuals, elderly people aged 60 and over, and healthcare workers with high exposure risk, but did not recommend expanding the target group.

Recently, Israel has been experiencing a surge in cases with the spread of the Delta variant followed by the Omicron variant, setting daily records for new confirmed cases. As of the 9th, 21,501 new cases were reported in one day, marking the highest number since the COVID-19 outbreak began.

However, despite the rapid spread, Israel is maintaining its relaxed quarantine policies. It has reopened previously closed borders and changed testing guidelines to focus on antigen tests, which are less accurate, instead of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests. It has also decided to discontinue the application of the 'Green Pass' (quarantine pass) for commercial facilities.