WASHINGTON - The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on March 1 dropped its five-day Covid-19 isolation recommendations under a new guidance.

Instead, it suggested that people return to normal activities if symptoms improve, and they are fever-free for at least 24 hours without needing medicines.

The guidelines had not been updated since December 2021, when the agency had shortened the recommended isolation time for Americans with asymptomatic cases to five days from 10 days.

“CDC is making updates to the recommendations now because the US is seeing far fewer hospitalisations and deaths associated with Covid-19 and because we have more tools than ever to combat flu, Covid-19 and RSV (respiratory syncytial virus),” the agency said in a statement.

It recommended that once people resume normal activities, they should take additional prevention strategies, including keeping a distance from others, for the next five days to curb the disease spread.

The CDC’s recommendations include enhanced precautions to protect those most at risk for severe illness, including those over 65 and people with weakened immune systems.

Its data estimated nearly 92.3 per cent of Covid-19 cases in the United States for the two weeks ending on March 2 were caused by the sub-variant JN.1, classified as a “variant of interest” by the World Health Organisation.

The agency on Feb 28 signed off on the use of updated Covid-19 vaccines as a second annual shot for adults aged 65 and older.

According to the CDC’s estimates, around 22 per cent of adults in the US have received the Covid-19 vaccine that was updated for the 2023-24 vaccination season, including close to 42 per cent of those aged 65 or older. REUTERS