Waalaikumsalam. Thank you for your question.

Here are the answer for your question:

Both isolation and quarantine is a procedure done to separate and restrict movement of an individual from everyone else. However the term isolation is used when the procedure done to infected individual with symptoms while quarantine is a term used when a healthy individual with risk of exposure to a positive case are being separated from everyone and being restricted.

According to a guideline for home quarantine published by Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):

• Your husband should be in a room by himself and avoid contact as much as possible from the rest of the household members.
• He should also have an access to a bathroom for his own use only. Monitor your husband for development of any symptoms.
• Prohibit unnecessary visits by people not living in your house.
• Avoid contact with pets
• Make sure that shared spaces has good ventilation
• Maintain good hygiene like washing hands frequently and avoid touching eyes, mouth, nose with unwashed hands
• Wear face mask when you are in the same room with your husband. Do not reuse the face mask.
• Avoid sharing household items with your husband, wash his clothes separately and thoroughly.
• Wipe surfaces with disinfectants.
• Dispose all face mask, disposable gloves and other contaminated items in a lined container before disposing them with other household waste.

For your information, quarantine is done for those who are close contact to a confirmed positive case or individual that fall under patient-under-investigation category. They are those who have symptoms with either travel history to high risk country or exposure to a confirmed positive case. Otherwise, you can do self monitoring to watch out development of symptoms.

As mention above, you and your children develop dry cough. Thus, you are encouraged to answer the quiz on Risk Assessment for COVID-19 to evaluate your health status in regards to this disease. After completing this quiz, you will be classified into several categories with appropriate next step to be taken.

You may consult a MOH doctor by clicking Ask Doctor at the Ministry of Health website (COVID-19 Portal) to ask any health issues related to COVID-19 starting from 8.30 am to 5.00 pm.

After 5.00 pm till 12.00 am, please direct your enquiries to our DoctorOnCall website at this link https://www.doctoroncall.com.my/tanya/.