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Background WHO has declared the COVID-19 as Pandemic on 11th March, 2020. It is important to break the chain of transmission by quarantining the persons with high-risk exposure. Understanding the reasons for quarantine will help in reducing the exposures and thus reducing the chances of quarantine. Methods A validated risk assessment tool based on National Centre for Disease Control guidelines was used for the risk assessment of HCWs. The forms of HCWs who underwent risk assessment between April-November, 2020 were analyzed for reasons of quarantine. The positivity rates among high-risk and low-risk groups were compared. Results Out of 1414 HCWs who were assessed, 345 were categorized as high-risk exposure and were quarantined. The most common reasons for quarantine were performance of aerosol generating procedure without recommended personal protection equipment (PPE) (34%), exposure to COVID-19 positive patient without mask for more than 20 minutes at the distance less than 1 m (30%) and having food/tea together (27%). The positivity rate was 8.4% among high-risk and 1.9% among low-risk exposure group (p-value: <0.001). The positivity among low risk category was more in the second half (19/466; 4.1%) as compared to first half (1/603; 0.2%) of the study period. This might be due to exposure from non-hospital sources as second half coincides with first wave of the pandemic. Conclusion Not using recommended PPE and having tea/food breaks together were the most common reasons for quarantine. Key messages Strict enforcement of recommended PPE and scattered tea and food breaks can reduce high-risk exposures.

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