Coronavirus: Dubai reduces quarantine to 10 days for some Covid-19 cases

Change applies to patients who did not develop symptoms since testing positive

The UAE has responded swiftly to the pandemic by ramping up testing and launching a vaccination programme. Antonie Robertson / The National

Health authorities in Dubai have reduced quarantine times to 10 days for certain Covid-19 and close contact cases.

Dubai Health Authority on Tuesday said the shortened period applied to patients who did not develop any symptoms since testing positive.

It said the reduced isolation time also addressed patients with mild cases who fully recovered without the use of fever-reducing medication.
Those who came in close contact with a confirmed Covid-19 case but did not develop any symptoms should also abide by the new quarantine period of 10 days, starting from the day they were exposed to the confirmed case.

Previously the quarantine times for such cases was 14 days.

The UAE reported a new high of Covid-19 cases with 1,967 infections recorded on Tuesday, after another 153,645 tests were carried out.

Meanwhile, the DHA said shortening the quarantine period is based on global research on Covid-19, which found that the majority of contact cases get infected within the first 10 days from last exposure.