The Office of Public Health of the Slovak Republic completely cancels the decree for isolation of persons positive to COVID-19 and quarantine of close contacts with effect from 20 March 2023 in agreement with the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic and the professional council. Persons with COVID-19 will no longer be required to have five days of domestic isolation from that date.
As with other acute respiratory diseases, adults and children with COVID-19 will, of course, be in the care of their treating physicians who will set up treatment or determine their inability to work; in the case of children, the doctor will determine that the child is unfit to attend the collective at the time of the illness.
The disease currently does not require compulsory isolation due to the currently circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants and to the proportion of people who have had COVID-19 and/or have been completely vaccinated. COVID-19 disease thus reaches the level of other acute respiratory diseases in which people protect themselves with regard to their own health, but also to protect vulnerable groups (seniors, chronically ill, immunocompromised, etc.).
Which means the annulment of the Decree for persons with COVID-19 diagnosed:
- If you have been diagnosed with COVID-19 before 20 March 2023, the rules on home insulation will no longer be mandatory for you after this date, even if five days have elapsed since the diagnosis or the onset of symptoms.
- However, the doctor's instructions should be followed very carefully, that is, to be treated at home in peace and to take into account your health.
- If you are ill, do not go to work, school, or other groups and other public areas. COVID-19 is an infectious disease and although domestic isolation will no longer be mandatory, consider your own health and the health of vulnerable groups.
- If it is not possible to stay home, for example because you need to go for medication, take care to wear the respirator properly (fully covered nose and mouth). Careful hand hygiene (washing with soap and hot water, using hand disinfectants based on alcohol) should still be considered.
How to protect against respiratory diseases (COVID-19, flu and similar diseases):
- Careful hand washing is an essential and effective step in preventing acute respiratory diseases, including COVID-19, as well as flu and flu-like diseases.
- Wash your hands thoroughly after each return home (to work) from the outside, by travelling in mass media, before and after a visit to the doctor and hospital, before, during, after preparing food and before, after using the toilet, with any feeling of unclean hands.
- We recommend protecting ourselves with respirators in crowded public transport, in crowded streets of shops or in mass events. It is also appropriate in situations where you are surrounded by strangers and unable to keep your distance safe from them or when you cannot assess their health. We recommend wearing the respirator in situations where you are beginning to experience symptoms of the disease or have returned to the collective just after the disease.
- It is recommended that you be vaccinated against COVID-19 if you have not yet been vaccinated or if you do not have a booster dose.
- Keep the respiratory label (sniff and cough in the handkerchief - not in the palm of your hand; throw away used handkerchiefs in reclosable waste containers and then wash your hands with water and soap or disinfect them).
- It is appropriate to limit handshake, embrace greetings, do not touch your face and eyes with unwashed hands, do not share personal items with other people.
- In collectives we recommend frequent short impact ventilation several times during the day with windows wide open. Disinfect the surfaces that people often touch.
- Support your defenses with increased intake of vitamins A, C, E and most vitamins of group B, vitamin D to support body defence - you can find them in fresh vegetables, fruits, legumes and wholegrain cereals.
- Take care of your daily stay in the fresh air, also help you to get enough sleep, active lifestyle and hardening.
- Dress appropriately for the weather.
What will be with the still valid decree to cover the upper airways:The decree to cover the upper airways will not be disturbed for now. It continues to apply because it still has a justification for the flu season and we continue to register relatively high morbidity for acute respiratory diseases. Mandatory proper coverage of the upper respiratory tract (nose and mouth) by the respirator still applies to health and social care staff in contact with clients and patients (patients, hospitals, ambulances and pharmacies), visitors to health and social facilities, patients in waiting rooms and ambulances of doctors or pharmacy customers.