Centre Updates Guidelines Advising Home Isolation For Mild COVID-19 Cases

New Delhi: The Government of India's Health and Family Welfare Ministry issued guidelines for home isolation of very mild and pre-symptomatic COVID-19 cases on Monday. Issued in addition to the earlier guidelines of April 7, the advisory suggests home isolation in the case of very mild or pre-symptomatic patients who have the requisite facility at home for self-isolation.

What do the updated guidelines mean? Some analysts wonder whether this suggests that the government expects a significant spike in the number of hospitalisations. Hans India attempts to break this down here for the readers.

Eligibility criteria for home isolation as per the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare guidelines:

• A treating medical officer should determine and clinically assign a patient as a very mild case or a pre-symptomatic case.

• The patient has to file an undertaking on self-isolation and is required to follow home quarantine guidelines.

• A person who is identified as a mild or pre-symptomatic case should have the requisite facility at home for self-isolation and also for quarantining family contacts.

• Such an individual should have a caregiver on a 24 x 7 basis and a communication link between the caregiver and the hospital is also a prerequisite for the entire period of home isolation.

• The caregiver and all the close contacts of such cases of people who have been identified as mild or pre-symptomatic cases should take hydroxychloroquine prophylaxis as per the prescribed protocol under the supervision of the treating medical officer.

• The patients must download Arogya Setu app on their mobiles and keep it active.

• Patients will call agree to get their health monitored and keep the District Surveillance Officer informed.

When to seek medical help

The patient or caregiver will keep monitoring the health status of the individual and immediate medical attention must be sought if there are serious signs or symptoms such as:

Difficulty in breathing

Persistent pain pressure in the chest

Mental confusion

Bluish discolouration of lips and face

If advised by the treating medical officer

When to discontinue home isolation

Patients under whom isolation are advised under the guidelines to end their period of whom isolation if the symptoms get resolved clinically and if the surveillance medical officer certifies the patient in question to be free of infection after laboratory testing.