A health worker conducts a PCR test for COVID-19. (Credit: Aziz Taher/Reuters)
BEIRUT — The Health Ministry modified Wednesday the isolation rules for people who test positive for COVID-19 or who have had contact with a person carrying the virus.
Here’s what we know:
• Starting today, patients who are asymptomatic must only confine themselves for 10 days, at the end of which they will no longer be obliged to do a PCR test, the ministry announced in a statement after consulting the National Infectious Diseases Commission.
• People with symptoms must isolate themselves for 10 days and make sure on the last day of confinement that they no longer have a fever in order to release themselves from confinement.
• People who have had contact with an infected individual but have received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine must isolate themselves for a week before they can go out if they do not exhibit symptoms. They can also isolate themselves for five days after which if they receive a negative PCR result they can end their isolation.
• People who have had contact with an infected individual but are not vaccinated or have only received one vaccine dose are expected to isolate themselves for 10 days after which they can leave, if they do not show symptoms. They can also isolate themselves for a week after which if they receive a negative PCR result they may go out.
• Lebanon daily numbers for new COVID-19 cases reached record highs after the holiday season, due to the spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant. However, hospitalizations as a result of the virus remain relatively low and a countrywide lockdown is not presently anticipated.