The quarantines put in place to fight against the spread of the coronavirus will be lightened from Monday. People with a complete vaccination schedule will therefore have to isolate themselves for seven days regardless of the variant, an isolation which can be lifted after five days in the event of a negative antigen test or PCR provided they no longer have a clinical sign of the disease. infection for 48 hours, the government announced on Sunday.
In addition, there will be no more quarantine for contact cases with a complete vaccination schedule, explains the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, in an interview with Sunday Newspaper. For their part, people who do not have a complete vaccination schedule “will have to isolate themselves for ten days, with a possible discharge after seven days” following the results of the tests.
Several tests to do
Regarding contact cases, “if you have a complete vaccination schedule, you can continue your activities provided you have regular tests”. The first, a PCR or antigen test, should be done “on the day you learn you are in contact.” Then, you will have to perform a self-test on D + 2 and D + 4. By providing proof of your first screening on D0 at the pharmacy, you will receive all the self-tests necessary for your follow-up free of charge, ”explains Olivier Véran. Contact persons will have to “strictly apply the barrier measures, in particular the wearing of a mask indoors and outdoors”, and telework “as far as possible”, also specifies the Ministry of Health.
Until now, positive people had to stay in isolation for 10 days regardless of the variant, and contact cases of a person who contracted the Omicron variant had to self-isolate for a minimum of 7 days. The duration of isolation could also reach 17 days, whatever the variant, when sharing the home of a positive person. This change in rules responds to the need to “take into account the extremely rapid development of the distribution of the Omicron variant in France” and should make it possible “to have a benefit-risk balance aimed at ensuring the control of contamination while maintaining the socio-economic life ”, explains the ministry. In addition, “the first virological data available” show “a shorter incubation time of the Omicron variant than for the previous variants, going in favor of a possible reduction in the isolation time”.
The ministry also specifies that for children under 12 in the case of contact in the school environment, the national education protocol applies: this means carrying out an antigenic test for PCR “for all students of the class as soon as a case appears within the class, and return to class on presentation of the negative result ”. Self-tests must be carried out on D + 2 and D + 4.