Explained | COVID-19: What is a quarantine? How is it different from isolation?

The COVID-19 outbreak is having a home run around the world, with over half a million infected and over 30,000 dead (amounting to a roughly 5% mortality rate). Combating this pandemic has been a headache for most world governments, with no vaccine available and panic spreading through streets.

To quell the panic and prevent the spread of COVID-19, the governments have resorted to a tried-and-tested technique: Quarantine. But what is a quarantine anyway and how does it differ from isolation?

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The Oxford dictionary defines the word 'quarantine' as "a state, period, or place of isolation in which people or animals that have arrived from elsewhere or been exposed to an infectious or contagious disease are placed."

Simply put, it's when a person or an animal is suspected of being infected is separated from a larger population to minimise the risk of exposure. The word originated from the Italian word 'quarantina', meaning 'forty days'.

The practice of quarantining began in the 14th century when the bubonic plague was rampaging. Venice instituted a period of separation wherein ships suspected of carrying the plague were made to anchor for 40 days before landing.

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Though quarantine is commonly used these days in the context of the COVID-19, it is also used very prominently in computers, where anti-virus software do the same thing to potentially malicious content to prevent them from infecting the rest of the 'healthy' computer. You can see it for yourself if you open your anti-virus dashboard and navigate to its quarantine section. McAfee, Kaspersky, AVG and the rest all have their own way of detecting and removing potentially malicious content.

But how does it differ from isolation?

Typically, you might think that quarantine and isolation are the same. And while that is kind of true, the similarities are only superficial.

Isolation, in the context of medicine and healthcare, is defined as a period where a person who is known to have an infectious disease is kept separated from healthy population to prevent exposure.

These days, you will probably be seeing a lot of people use the term self-isolation. This is typically voluntary isolation imposed by people who believe or know that they have an infectious disease, like the COVID-19.