Paris. Faced with a wave of the omicron variant that triggered the contagion of Covid-19, more and more governments around the world are easing the isolation rules for patients and their contacts to avoid economic paralysis.
The high degree of contagion of omicron and the consequent work suspensions and quarantines weigh heavily on societies, even though the acceleration of infections is not accompanied, for now, by an increase in mortality.
France, with more than a million cases detected in the last seven days, announced on Sunday a relaxation of the rules of isolation of infected people and their contacts, as a way to preserve the socio-economic life of the country.
Under the rules that go into effect on Monday, positive people who have a full vaccination will have to be isolated for seven days instead of ten, and may be reduced to five if they test negative on a subsequent test.
Those who were in contact with these people should not quarantine if they have the complete vaccination scheme.
In the UK, with record infections, Health Secretary Sajid Javid said there will be no new restrictions, except as “an absolute last resort”.
Shortly before Christmas, the British government had reduced the days of isolation for vaccinated people who contract the coronavirus from 10 to seven.
For its part, the Swiss health authority decided on Friday that the cantons can reduce the quarantine for people who had contact with someone infected from ten to seven days.
Fears of economic destabilization and public health also led Spain to decide on Wednesday to reduce the isolation of infected people to seven days, instead of ten.
On the same day, Argentina made a similar decision to try to minimize the economic impact of a record outbreak of infections. Portugal did it on Friday.
Israel on Wednesday abandoned its mandatory seven-day quarantine for vaccinated people exposed to omicron amid fears that the isolation rate is leading the country, which has already banned foreign travelers, into a de facto lockdown.
The Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Ontario said Thursday that most infected people could shorten isolation from 10 to five days if they were fully vaccinated.
Protests in the Netherlands
The Netherlands, on the other hand, decided to tighten the restrictions with a new confinement a week before Christmas. But on Sunday thousands of people demonstrated for the new rules in force.
“This is Holland! Power to the people!” Shouted one of the protesters.
The clashes with the police left several light injuries, and there were at least 30 arrests, local media reported.