The Ministry of Health has waived the 14-day quarantine requirement for Covid-19 patients who have fully recovered from the disease, according to a directive issued by Minister of Health Mam Bun Heng on October 26.
This came just a day after the ministry issued a similar directive waiving quarantine for medical workers and frontline service providers at treatment facilities who maintain strict health measures while on duty and receive negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test results.
“Covid-19 patients who have recovered from the disease in a hospital or treatment facility do not need to undergo the 14-day quarantine anymore,” stated the letter, which was addressed to the capital and provincial governors.
The letter goes on to state that patients who undergo treatment at home and recover from the disease may also waive the quarantine requirement but have to follow a specific set of procedures.
Home-based patients who are unvaccinated may end their isolation without further quarantine after day 14 if they do not have any Covid-19 symptoms on days 11, 12 or 13 of their treatment – or over any consecutive three-day period with no symptoms thereafter – if symptoms are initially still present.
Home-based patients who are vaccinated may end their isolation without further quarantine after day six of their treatment as soon as they experience three consecutive days without any symptoms but they must take a rapid antigen Covid-19 test as well.
If the rapid antigen test results are positive, they must wait two days and then take another test. As soon as they get a negative result back and have had at least three days without symptoms, they can end their treatment without further quarantine.
“Patients who cannot afford to buy a rapid antigen test themselves can end their isolation without further quarantine after day nine as soon as they have experienced three consecutive days without symptoms,” the letter noted.
