Botswana reduces COVID isolation period to 5 days

Botswana will reduce isolation period for Covid-19 positive cases to a minimum of five days from Wednesday, Ministry of Health and Wellness spokesperson Christopher Nyanga said.

According to the country’s new Covid-19 protocols, the self-isolation period for those fully vaccinated and experiencing mild symptoms will be reduced to 5 days.

For those who have been partially vaccinated or have not been vaccinated at all but are still asymptomatic or have mild symptoms, the self-isolation period will be 7 days.

All those people who test positive for Covid-19 and has moderate to severe symptoms, whether fully vaccinated or not, will be required to isolate for at least 10 days.

The general population will no longer be subjected to contact tracing and quarantining. Health care workers may use their discretion to institute quarantine in exceptional cases, such as congregate settings (prisons, boarding schools) or vulnerable populations (hospitalized patients, old age homes), Nyanga said.

Botswana has a total of 261,913 confirmed cases, 256,438 recoveries, and 2,608 COVID-19-related deaths.

CGTN/Olajumoke Adeleke