The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) released new stay-at-home preliminary guidelines on Friday for people who have contracted COVID with mild symptoms or are asymptomatic.

Domestic cases under the age of 65 with either mild or no symptoms, who are neither pregnant nor have undergone kidney dialysis, will be allowed to quarantine at home to manage their health, Health and Welfare Minister Chen Shih-chung (???) said at the daily CECC presser on Friday.

However, the same criteria will also apply to people living under the same roof as COVID-19 patients for them to be allowed to stay in the same residence, Chen said.

Chen added that these guidelines were a draft, with the finalized policies most likely to be announced sometime next week.

The stay-at-home quarantine guidelines are part of the new control model the nation is planning to adopt to eradicate severe COVID cases while effectively managing those with mild or no symptoms.

Lo Yi-chun (???), deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division, went on to elaborate that those who are allowed to quarantine at home must isolate themselves to their own rooms, unless there are multiple confirmed cases in one household.

Under such circumstances, those with COVID can confine themselves to one room together.

Bathrooms and showers shared by residents with and without the virus must be properly disinfected after use.

The same unit may not house more than four residents who have not tested positive for COVID, Lo said.

Furthermore, residents who are not positive will only be released from quarantine 10 days after the initial COVID confirmation of their housemates, and are subjected to mandatory rapid testing on the fifth and 10th days of quarantine.

During their required subsequent week of self-health management after quarantine, these individuals are required to take two more rapid tests, on the third and seventh days, respectively, he said.

Households that qualify for stay-at-home quarantine will have an official notification issued by their local governments, who will provide additional management and care for the entire household.

Lo also warned that during stay-at-home quarantine, individuals who develop shortness of breath, chest tightness, bruise-like lesions on their skin, or fall unconscious must be admitted to a hospital as soon as possible, adding that fellow residents should dial 119, 1922, or their local health agencies for assistance.

He also said those with the virus who observe the stay-at-home policy will only be released from quarantine if they don’t have a fever and have obtained a negative result from a rapid test taken 10 days after their COVID confirmation.

If these individuals continuously display positive results from rapid tests, they can still be released from quarantine if they are able to obtain a negative result from a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, or show a cycle threshold (CT) value of 30 and above, which signifies a low viral load.

As for imported cases, these individuals are required to quarantine alone in one unit unless there are other confirmed cases residing in the same unit.

Other exceptions include imported case individuals needing to care for or needing to be taken care of during quarantine.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel