WHO shortens isolation period for Covid patients

The WHO (World Health Organization) released this Friday (13) updated recommendations for Covid-19. Among the indications, the social isolation of those with the disease was the one that had the greatest change.

An important means of preventing the spread of the virus, social isolation has been a recommended measure since the beginning of the pandemic. Depending on symptoms and tests, the period in which the patient should be without contact with other people varies.

Before the new measures, the WHO recommended that, without carrying out new tests after confirmation of the disease, a person with Covid-19 should be isolated for ten days from the onset of symptoms, with the addition of at least another three days from resolution of all symptoms. Now, the organization no longer recommends these additional three days.

In addition, the agency previously recommended ten days of isolation for those with positive tests, but without any symptoms of the infection. With the new changes, the number was reduced to five days.

Changes were evidence-based.

In the first case, the organization noted that people released on the tenth day from the symptoms already have a risk of infecting others three times lower than those with the end of isolation from the fifth day.

In the second amendment, experts noted that the risk of someone asymptomatic transmitting the virus is lower compared to those who have symptoms.

In Brazil, indications have some peculiarities. In January 2022, the Ministry of Health modified the isolation scheme: since then, for mild and moderate cases, the person can return to daily life from the seventh day without having fever or respiratory symptoms in the last 24 hours.

If you take a test on the fifth day from the symptoms and the result is negative, in addition to no longer experiencing symptoms in the last 24 hours, the patient can also leave isolation. If the symptoms persist, it is necessary to complete ten days from the beginning of them.

masks and medicine

Masks were also part of the update on WHO recommendations. The organization continues to indicate that it be used by people recently exposed to Covid-19, with suspicion of the disease, and by individuals at greater risk or in crowded situations or in closed environments, without much ventilation.

The difference is that, in the new guide, the WHO is based on the global scenario of Covid-19 to determine the indications for the use of masks. Previously, the recommendations were based on the local epidemiological situation of the disease, but now they are independent of this issue “given the current spread of Covid-19 globally”.

Finally, the WHO has extended its recommendation for Paxlovid, an antiviral manufactured by Pfizer. The organization explained that pregnant and breastfeeding women with mild or moderate Covid should consult their doctors for a possible indication of the drug, considering the benefits that the antiviral can provide without causing serious side effects.

In Brazil, Paxlovid is already available on public and private networks. In September 2022, the first batch arrived with 50,000 units of the medicine to be used in public health. Pfizer claims that, by the end of January, another shipment with the same amount should arrive in the country.

In pharmacies, the drug was authorized to be marketed in November 2022. It is already available in large chains, costing almost R$ 5,000 for each box of 30 pills.

Although research has concluded that the medicine is effective, a recent one noted that, perhaps, the antiviral has a reduced effect on infections caused by omicron and its subvariants – they are responsible for most of the current cases of Covid-19.