Illustrative stock photo (source: TASR)
People who test positive during the Omicron wave should show initiative and contact their close contacts themselves.
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This concerns people they met within two days since their sample, which later returned positive, was taken or two days before the person developed symptoms, as stems from a manual published by the Public Health Authority (ÚVZ).
The reason is that the regional public health authorities are failing to trace the contacts of positively tested people in the environment where the highly contagious Omicron variant dominates and the number of positively tested people is increasing so rapidly.
This is why they decided to change their methodology. When tracing contacts, they prefer unprocessed positive cases identified in the past two days who can still be traced, children aged six to 18 years, and people older than 65 years, the TASR newswire reported.
Also people working in nursing homes or outpatient social care facilities will be given priority.
In addition, not every close contact will be invited to take a Covid test, usually taken on the fifth day after being in touch with a person who tested positive, due to an expected high increase in new daily cases and a shortage of testing capacities. The decision on whether to take the test will be made by a general practitioner.
Close contacts
Close contacts being people who were in touch with a person who tested positive, did not wear an FFP2 respirator and:
were in direct physical contact;
or spent more than five minutes at a less than two-metre distance;
or spent more than five minutes inside or in an enclosed space;
or travelled on the same means of transport for more than five minutes.
Source: ÚVZ ordinance
