Centre revises home isolation rules, include asymptomatic patients in list of mild cases

The Union health ministry has modified its guidelines of home isolation to include asymptomatic positive patients in the list of mild or pre-symptomatic coronavirus infection cases. The move comes as a large number of patients continue to show no symptoms but are being detected COVID-19 positive. The guidelines have also stated that patients suffering from immune-compromised status (like HIV, transplant recipients, cancer therapy) are not eligible for home isolation. 

Taking into consideration that not every asymptomatic patients have the requisite self-isolation facility at their residence, the guidelines stated that those who are pre-symptomatic and have very mild symptoms can opt for home isolation if they can avoid contact with other family members.

The guideline also added that the patient has to give an undertaking stating being diagnosed as a confirmed/ suspect case of COVID-19, he/ she hereby voluntarily undertake to maintain strict self-isolation at all times for the prescribed period.

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Details of the guidelines

As per the guidelines, elderly patients aged more than 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. Patients under home isolation will stand discharged after 10 days of onset of symptoms and no fever for three days. 

The guideline has also set a prerequisite for home isolation. According to the guidelines, a caregiver should be available to provide care on 24x7 basis and communication link between the caregiver and a hospital. Besides, the guidelines reiterated that the caregiver and all close contacts of such cases should take hydroxychloroquine as a preventive medication according to the protocol and as prescribed by the treating medical officer. Besides, it calls for downloading the Aarogya Setu mobile application and that it should remain active at all times (through bluetooth and wi-fi).

Directing the states, the guideline said that it should monitor all such cases, and that the health status of those under home isolation should be monitored by the field surveillance teams through personal visits along with a dedicated call centre to follow up on the patients on a daily basis. Besides, details about patients under home isolation should also be updated on COVID-19 portal and facility app.

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India's COVID-19 tally

India's COVID-19 cases soared by over 20,000 in a day for the first time taking the country's total tally to 6,25,544 on Friday, while the death toll climbed to 18,213 with 379 new fatalities, according to the Union Health Ministry data.

The country recorded 20,903 coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours till Friday 8 am, with Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Telangana and Karnataka being the major contributors to the single-day rise. The number of recoveries stands at 3,79,891 , while one patient has migrated. There are 2,27,439 active cases of coronavirus  According to the ICMR, accumulative total of 92,97,749 samples have been tested up to July 2 with 2,41,576 samples being tested on Thursday.

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