MADRID – Today (Wednesday, December 29) the Spanish government will decide whether to reduce the quarantine period from 10 to 5 days. Furthermore, in Spain today, health authorities detected 1,360 positive cases per 100,000 inhabitants. This is a new record of daily cases since the start of the pandemic. Yesterday health centres in Spain registered 99,671 new infections and 114 deaths.
This information comes from the latest report of the Ministry of Health. Various Spanish regions continue to take or study new measures to contain the coronavirus based on this data. La Rioja, Galicia, and the Basque Country are the last regions that have decided to bring forward the closure of nightlife, among other things.
Less effect on hospitalisations and deaths
Thanks to the large-scale vaccination campaign the number of positive cases does not correspond to the number of hospitalisations and deaths from Covid. A year ago Spain started giving the first doses to the eldest and most vulnerable citizens in the country. Currently, children aged 5 to 12 are receiving their first dose.
Quarantine to 5 days
RTVE reports on the website at 1.00 pm that Prime Minister Sánchez will decide today whether the government will reduce mandatory quarantine from 10 days to 5 days. Those positive tested and their close contacts only will be subject to quarantine. But only when they are without symptoms and have been fully vaccinated. Several regions such as Madrid and Andalucia, already proposed to shorten the period people have to isolate themselves. Futhermore, the United States has also started to shorten the quarantine period.
Shorter incubation time new variant
The Omicron variant is causing more infections, but with less clinical incidence. Therefore, experts say authorities have to approach this sixth wave “in a different way.” Several studies also show that the incubation time of the omicron variant is shorter. Therefore, in the earlier variant, it was estimated to be 5 days on average. However, with Omicron, it would be 3. Consequently, this is the main reason why the government wants to shorten the quarantine period.
