In an interview with the Star Newspaper on the questions of the guidelines by the Ministry of Health Malaysia and the Center for Disease Control (CDC), the United States of America that a COVID-19 patient can be discharged after a period of 10 days and can this be the same for people under quarantine?
Professor Dr Victor Hoe said that the two are different, as in the first case, it is a patient who has been diagnosed as a COVID-19 patient, by 10 days their viral load have decreased and they will not be able to spread the infection to others. In the second case, it is a person being in contact with a COVID-19 patient, for this the duration needs to be longer. This is because the incubation period for the SARS-CoV-2 on an average takes 5-6 days and sometimes can be as long as 14 days.
This is why the quarantine period should be maintained as 14 days and not reduced to 10 days. The incubation period is the period between exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the development of the disease.
On the same issue, Professor Datuk Dr Awang Bulgiba Awang Mahmud also support the 14 days quarantine period.
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