Photo/Illutration The Asahi Shimbun

The health ministry on Feb. 2 reduced the self-isolation period for family members and others who have been in close contact with a person infected with the novel coronavirus in the same building.

The move was made because an increasing number of close-contact family members are facing prolonged restrictions on their social and economic activities.

If such people have taken strict anti-virus measures, such as wearing face masks, while looking after an infected family member at home--and have not developed any symptoms--they need to self-isolate for just seven days, the ministry said.

The ministry believes an infected child needs about 10 days to recuperate. Under the previous policy, a parent taking care of an infected child becomes in close contact and had been asked to self-isolate for seven days from the day after the child finished recuperating.

That meant the parent effectively could not go out for work or other purposes for 17 days. The period could be even longer if other family members became infected and were also in close contact with the parent.

“The number of parents or other guardians who are forced to stay isolated has been soaring recently as more children are infected,” health minister Shigeyuki Goto said. “We changed the isolation period for family members in close contact to maintain societal and economic activities.”

The ministry’s new policy is based on a scenario of an infected person and family members being in constant close contact in their daily lives, such as when they eat or bathe.

Based on that scenario, the close-contact individuals can end their isolation periods seven days after the onset of the disease of a family member, or seven days after family members start taking anti-virus measures, such as wearing masks and washing their hands, inside their house.

But they also must show no symptoms themselves while looking after the COVID-19 patient at home

And even after they complete the new self-isolation period, they are asked to monitor their health conditions, such as taking their body temperatures, until the infected patient finishes recuperating.

The new policy was based on a finding by the National Institute of Infectious Diseases that showed it is extremely rare for close-contact people to develop symptoms after seven days have passed since the patient started to show symptoms.

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