Senate decision: shorter isolation period in case of infection

The Berlin Senate has decided on a shorter isolation period in the case of a Coronavirus infection.

In the future, infected persons will only have to be isolated for five days if they are symptom-free for 48 hours and can show a negative test. This was announced by Berlin's Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD) on Tuesday (03 May 2022) after a meeting of the Senate.

Shortened isolation time only in absence of symptoms

Previously, seven to ten days of isolation were mandatory on the basis of various criteria. In the future, if the person concerned is not yet symptom-free after five days, isolation is extended until there are no more symptoms and the test result is negative, up to a maximum of ten days.

Milder disease progression with Omicron as rationale

The Senate had already discussed the issue at its meeting on Tuesday in the previous week, but had postponed a decision because of open questions. Most recently, the health ministers of the federal and state governments had also discussed the deadline reduction once again and agreed in principle. For the reason they referred after their switching conference on last Thursday to the increasing immunity in the population and milder courses of infection with the Omicron variant.