STA, January 6, 2022 – The government has extended exemptions from quarantine at home after high-risk contact with a person infected with Covid-19 to people who received booster vaccination, who fell ill with Covid less than 45 days ago or recovered from Covid and were fully vaccinated. The quarantine, meanwhile, was shortened from ten to seven days.

Amendments to the relevant regulation, which will come into force on 10 January, were adopted at Thursday’s correspondence session at the suggestion of the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ).

The person will not be quarantined at home after high-risk contact after receiving the Biontech / Pfizer or Moderna Covid-19 booster vaccine.

In these cases, people who have survived Covid-19 are also excluded from quarantine at home, as evidenced by a positive PCR test older than ten days and who have received two Biontech / Pfizer, Moderna, Sputnik V, Sinovac, Sinopharm vaccines. AstraZeneca, Covishield or Covaxin or a combination of these vaccines.

This also applies to people who have received a single dose of Janssen.

Minister of Health Janez Poklukar, meanwhile, told reporters in Brdo pri Kranju after a government meeting with representatives of the economy that NIJZ epidemiologists had proposed quarantine after reducing risky contact from ten to seven days.

The government did not write this in the decree, because, according to Poklukar, “this is based on the recommendations of epidemiologists and will be implemented according to this protocol next Monday.”

The Minister added that the NIJZ representatives will present the expert basis for this decision on Friday.

It is proposed that the quarantine be completed without PCR testing, with Poklukar warning on Wednesday that almost 95 percent of infections had been detected during that time, so the quarantine could be completed without additional testing.