The recommended isolation period for people who contract Covid-19 has been reduced from 10 days to five days by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The recommended isolation period for people who contract Covid-19 has been reduced from 10 days to five days by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Picture: Getty Images)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recommended that the isolation period for people who test positive for the coronavirus be shortened from 10 days to five days.

Issued on Monday, the guidance follows evidence that people with Covid-19 are most infectious in the two days before and three days after they show symptoms.

After the recommended isolation period, people should wear face masks for five days at the least to ‘minimize the risk of infecting others’, according to the CDC.

It comes as CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said the US will see Omicron variant cases continue to grow.

‘Not all of those cases are going to be severe. In fact many are going to be asymptomatic,’ she said.

‘We want to make sure there is a mechanism by which we can safely continue to keep society functioning while following the science.’