Dear Member / owner,

We’ve received a new case definition from the Ministry of Health, which came into effect Friday 22 May at 1800.
  • The suspect case definition is unchanged.
  • Advice for close contacts of cases under investigation, and of close contacts of confirmed or probable cases have changed.
  • There is a new section on managing ‘relapsing’ cases.
The main changes are highlighted below, and the full definition is available here.

With best wishes,

David Gollogly, Jasmine Mackay, Richard Chen
Pandemic Response Committee
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Version 15/5/20
Version 22/5/20

Managing close contacts of cases under investigation

Any household contacts of cases under investigation should self-quarantine while awaiting test results.

They should be meticulous with physical distancing, hand hygiene and cough etiquette, and immediately isolate and phone Healthline if symptoms develop.

Close contacts of cases under investigation

Household contacts of a case under investigation do not need to self-isolate unless there is a high degree of suspicion that the case under investigation is likely to be a case (eg, they are a symptomatic close contact of a confirmed or probable case).

Contacts should be meticulous with physical distancing, hand hygiene and cough etiquette, and immediately isolate and phone Healthline if symptoms develop.

Managing close contacts of a confirmed or probable case

Household and other close contacts of confirmed or probable cases should self-quarantine and be managed at home with monitoring for symptoms. If they develop symptoms they should be tested and stay in isolation until results are available.

Further advice on the management of close contacts of probable and confirmed cases is available in the Advice for Health Professionals.

Close contacts of a confirmed or probable case

Household and other close contacts of confirmed or probable cases should self-quarantine for 14 days since last exposure with the case and be managed at home with monitoring for symptoms. If they develop symptoms they should be tested and stay in isolation until results are available.

Further advice on the management of close contacts of probable and confirmed cases is available in the Advice for Health Professionals.




[not covered]

Managing relapsing cases

Some cases that met the requirements and were released from isolation have re-presented with mild respiratory symptoms up to three weeks later. The following is recommended:
  • there is little value in retesting for COVID-19 as a positive PCR does not mean they are infectious*
  • testing is only recommended if their condition deteriorates and they are hospitalised – it may be because of another condition such as bacterial pneumonia rather than COVID-19
  • if they are retested and are PCR positive, they do not need to be isolated
  • close contacts have no additional quarantine requirements beyond their existing ones, and any new close contacts do not need to be quarantined
  • consider testing for other pathogens
  • cases should be advised to stay at home until 48 hours of being symptom-free.
* A Korean CDC report from May 19th supports this statement and concludes “Based on active monitoring, epidemiological investigation, and laboratory testing of re-positive cases and their contacts, no evidence was found that indicated infectivity of re-positive cases.”