MoPH issues sick leave guidelines for quarantined employees

Doha: The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) has issued guidelines regarding sick leaves to all employees during the isolation and quarantine period associated with coronavirus (COVID-19), which is in implementation from yesterday.

The Ministry clarified that the employee, who is confirmed to have COVID-19 and the result of the coronavirus examination (PCR) test shows that he has an active (infectious) infection, must be placed under appropriate isolation for a period not less than 14 days, adding if the test result shows that the employee has an infection which is non-infectious, then the employee must be placed under appropriate isolation for a period of 7 days, and the “Ehteraz” app will be in red for the duration of the health isolation, indicating that the said period of isolation is considered “sick leave”, and in the event that the case is required to enter the hospital and the isolation period is extended for a period of more than 14 days, the entire period will be considered as sick leave until the recovery from the disease. The Ministry also clarified the classifications for an employee who has been in close contact with a person with COVID-19 disease. If the employee has been fully vaccinated, or have contracted the COVID-19 virus during the past six months, and meets the Ministry of Public Health’s definition of close contact, he will be exempt from quarantine, provided that the result of the Coronavirus (PCR) test is negative after contact with the infected person, and that he shall self-quarantine for a day until the test result appears, and he shall continue to monitor himself for any symptoms similar to COVID-19 during the next fourteen days.