The Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre elaborates the criteria for discharge from isolation for COVID-19 infected and uninfected persons as follows:
- All COVID-19 infected persons, be they confirmed cases or asymptomatic cases, are subject to isolation for at least 7 days. Discharge from isolation is only permissible when the person has obtained negative results from two successive COVID-19 nucleic acid tests conducted 24 hours apart, or where the NAT result is positive but the CT value is ≧ 35. In most cases, it takes at least 10 days for an infected person to fulfil these criteria.
- If the infected person is an inbound traveller, the period of isolation shall not be less than the number of days that medical observation is required due to relevant travel/residence history.
- For uninfected persons who are subject to medical observation due to contact with an infected person or relevant travel/residence history, if they test negative in all nucleic acid tests for COVID-19 during the designated period of medical observation, they can be discharged upon the expiration of the medical observation period; if a positive result is detected during the medical observation period, they shall remain in isolation until the above discharge criteria for infected persons are met.