Omicron: what are the new isolation rules in effect from Monday?

While unprecedented daily contamination records have been linked for several days in France, climbing to more than 200,000 cases per day, under the effect of the new Omicron wave, the government wants to prevent schools and businesses from being crippled by absences – work stoppages and quarantines. Over a million cases have been detected in the past seven days.

In a press release sent on Sunday, January 2, the Ministry of Health indicates that it will ease the isolation rules in the event of contamination or contact from Monday, January 3, like many countries in the world.

Fully vaccinated positive people will now have to self-isolate for seven days, instead of the current ten, regardless of the variant. This isolation can be lifted after five days in the event of a negative test or if the person “has had no clinical signs of infection for 48 hours”. Otherwise, she self-isolates for seven days but should not be tested again at the end of this period.

Unvaccinated people, on the other hand, must continue to observe the ten-day rule, but the quarantine may drop to seven days for the same conditions: negative tests or absence of clinical signs of infection for two days.

For contact cases, only the unvaccinated and those “who did not recall on time” will have to go into isolation for seven days, at the end of which she must carry out an antigen test or negative PCR, when those who are fully vaccinated will not be subjected to any isolation but will have to carry out regular tests, namely an antigen or a PCR the same day they learn that they are in contact, then by self-tests provided free of charge two days and four days later. “By providing proof of your first screening at D0 at the pharmacy, you will receive all the self-tests necessary for your follow-up free of charge”, confirms Olivier Véran to the Sunday Newspaper.

Contact persons vaccinated must “nevertheless (…) strictly apply the barrier measures, and in particular the wearing of a mask indoors and outdoors, limit their contact, avoid any contact with people at risk of severe form of Covid, and telework to the extent possible “, warns the ministry.

For children under 12 years of age who are in contact, an antigen test or PCR must be carried out by all students in the class as soon as a case of contamination occurs in a class, as provided for in the health protocol until then. in schools. The return to school is therefore conditioned as before on a negative test, but the pupils will also have to use self-tests two and four days later, the parents having to present a certificate on the honor that these tests have been carried out so that their child can return to class.

A change of rules which should make it possible to ensure “controlling contamination while maintaining socio-economic life”, justifies the ministry. “In many activities, a large part of the people will not be there, we will have to close some of them, explains to LCI Olivier Babeau, economist and president of the Sapiens institute, interviewed in the video at the top of the article. If we keep the same isolation rules for contact cases, it’s very clear, I think we are closing the economy at the end of January. “

The Ministry of Health also specifies that according to “the first virological data available for the Omicron variant”, the incubation time of this variant is shorter than for these predecessors, which makes it possible to reduce the isolation time. “We hope that Omicron is less severe, Philippe Froguel, professor of medicine at Lille University Hospital and Imperial College London, also abounds in the video at the head of the article. According to calculations made around the world, we should get by with shorter isolation. ”