Health ministry defends new Covid 5+5 policy

The Ministry associated with Public Health recently defended a decrease of quarantine times from seven to five for asymptomatic Covid-19 patients, saying it was based on academic data and examined by relevant celebrations.

Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said the brand new guideline was not decided by a single person, but supported by academic data and reviewed by several committees including the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration.

The Department of Medical Services recently revised the guidelines to allow asymptomatic patients to isolate for only five days and monitor their health for another five times, known as a 5+5 plan.

The particular revised policy had been criticised by Dr Thira Woratanarat, a lecturer at Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty associated with Medicine, who said five days were not enough to curb transmission of the coronavirus and the policy was not based on academic principles.

Mr Anutin said the 5+5 policy has been considered a legitimate quality and pointed out that the guidelines have been revised in order to reflect the intensity of symptoms as well as the capacity of the public health system. Previously, asymptomatic Covid-19 patients were advised to self-isolate for 7 days and observe their particular health over the three following days.

Mr Anutin also said several provinces faced a little wave of trojan infections, adding that this country had sufficient resources to handle this kind of outbreaks.

Public Health Ministry spokesman Rungruang Kitpati yesterday insisted the particular 5+5 policy have been reviewed by specialists adding that it would certainly create a balance among disease control plus people’s livelihood. “We adopted the 14-day quarantine when the break out began, but reduce the quarantine time period when the severity of symptoms eased and a large number of people were vaccinated, ” Dr Rungruang said.