Russia shortens required COVID-19 isolation period

Authorities in Russia announced on Tuesday that they would shorten the required isolation period for COVID-19 infections from 14 to seven days. 

Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said that the country was “optimizing our approaches to quarantine and testing of our citizens, including shortening the quarantine period to seven days,” according to The Associated Press.

Golikova, who leads the country’s COVID-19 task force, also said that other policies would bring more changes in the coming days, but she did not provide the details of those new measures. She also did not elaborate on why the isolation period was changed, the AP added.

Previously, Russia required a two-week isolation period for people who tested positive as well as a mandatory follow-up test on day 11, the wire service added.  

The change comes amid the country’s uptick in infections, fueled in large part by the highly contagious omicron variant.

In the past week, COVID-19 infections in Russia doubled from more than 15,000 on Jan. 10 to 31,252 on Tuesday. Golikova said that at least 1,682 omicron cases have been confirmed in the country as of Tuesday, though she predicted that the actual number is much higher, the AP noted.

Elsewhere in the world, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention previously revised quarantine guidance in the U.S. by cutting the recommended quarantine from 10 days to five for people who test positive and remain asymptomatic. For the five days that follow the isolation period, the health agency recommends that individuals wear a mask around others at all times.