KUALA LUMPUR (March 2): The latest guidance from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicated the normalisation of coronavirus four years after it reared its ugly head.

Following the guidance on Friday, the CDC has done away with the five-day isolation requirement.

The agency recommended the public to now follow the same precautions with Covid as they take with the flu.

That means staying home until they have gone a day with no fever and symptoms start to improve.

Take other precautions for the next five days, including wearing a mask and limiting close contact with others, the guidance read.

Those are the same steps the CDC recommends for other respiratory viruses.

The CDC said while every respiratory virus does not act the same, adopting a unified approach to limiting disease spread makes recommendations easier to follow, and thus more likely to be adopted, and does not rely on individuals to test for illness, a practice that data indicates is uneven.

National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases director Dr Demetre Daskalakis said the bottom line is that when people follow these actionable recommendations to avoid getting sick, and to protect themselves and others if they do get sick, it will help limit the spread of respiratory viruses, and that will mean fewer people who experience severe illness.

“That includes taking enhanced precautions that can help protect people who are at higher risk for getting seriously ill," said Daskalakis.