Germany shortens quarantine for COVID-19 infected to 5 days

BERLIN: People infected with COVID-19 in Germany were now allowed to leave quarantine after just five days, with a negative test recommended but no longer mandatory, Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach said on Tuesday.

Previous rules in Germany required people infected with COVID-19 to isolate themselves for seven days and then test negative before ending their quarantine.

Infected individuals who continued to test positive after five days should remain isolated until testing negative. According to Lauterbach, the regulatory mandated quarantine would only apply to infected persons, no longer to first contacts, said Xinhua.

The change to the quarantine order was made on an earlier recommendation of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the federal government agency for disease control and prevention.

Germany's seven-day COVID-19 incidence on Tuesday continued to decline to 632.2 infections per 100,000 citizens, down from 909.1 a week ago, according to the RKI. The number of new infections within 24 hours fell to 113,522.

-- BERNAMA