The coronavirus might be “novel” to our world. However, applying the practice of quarantine as a successful way to prevent its spread is an ancient and successful procedure that’s been used through out history.
The word quarantine has its origin in word quarantena, the Venetian for “forty days”. Venice initiated a 40-day isolation of ships and people as a measure of disease prevention related to the plague known as the Black Death that hit Medieval Europe between 1348 and 1359.
Such a disaster led governments to establish measures of containment to handle recurrent epidemics. A document from 1377 states that before entering the city-state of Ragusa in Dalmatia (modern Dubrovnik in Croatia), newcomers had to spend 30 days (a trentine) in a restricted place (originally nearby islands) waiting to see whether the symptoms of Black Death would develop.
Though the word quarantine was not used in the ancient world, here are two examples of the concept of isolation to prevent the spread of disease. The first goes back to biblical times. An early mention of isolation occurs in the Biblical book of Leviticus,written in the seventh century BC or perhaps earlier, which describes the procedure for separating out infected people to prevent spread of disease under the Mosaic Law. Leprosy was thus successfully contained in that manner.
Early in Islamic history there are records of mandatory hospital quarantine of special groups of patients, including those with leprosy. The Islamic prophet Muhammad advised quarantine: “Those with contagious diseases should be kept away from those who are healthy.” Islamic physician, Ibn Sina, also recommended quarantine for patients with infectious diseases, especially tuberculosis.
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