New Delhi: With a large number of people showing no symptoms testing positive for COVID-19, the Union Health Ministry has revised home isolation guidelines to include asymptomatic positive patients in the list of mild or pre-symptomatic COVID-19 infection cases.
However, the immuno-compromised patients (included HIV, transplant recipients, cancer therapy) are not eligible for home isolation, state the revised guidelines released on Thursday.
Elderly patients aged above 60 years and those with co-morbid conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, chronic lung/liver/kidney disease and cerebrovascular disease among others shall only be allowed home isolation after proper evaluation by the treating medical officer.
Patients under home isolation will stand discharged after 10 days of onset of symptoms and no fever for three days, the guidelines stated.
“Thereafter, the patient will be advised to isolate at home and self-monitor their health for a further seven days. There is no need for testing after the home isolation period is over,” the ‘Revised Guidelines for Home Isolation of Very mild/pre-symptomatic/asymptomatic COVID-19 cases’ stated.
According to the document, asymptomatic patients like the ones who are pre-symptomatic and have very mild symptoms can opt for home isolation if they have the requisite self-isolation facility at their residence so as to avoid contact with other family members.
According to the guidelines, a caregiver should be available to provide care on a 24×7 basis and a communication link between the caregiver and a hospital is a prerequisite for the entire duration of home isolation.
Besides, the guidelines reiterated that the caregiver and all close contacts of such cases should take hydroxychloroquine as a preventive medication as per the protocol and as prescribed by the treating medical officer.
