In a new set of guidelines by the Health Ministry, patients with mild coronavirus symptoms can now stay in home isolation. Medical officers can recommend home isolation to those patients who have been clinically categorized as a very mild case or pre-symptomatic case, provided they have the requisite self-isolation facility at their residence.
The guidelines also adds that the patient should regularly inform his health status to the district surveillance officer for further follow-up. The caretaker 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.
Currently, all suspected (awaiting test results) and confirmed cases are being isolated and managed in a hospital setting with the intent to break the chain of transmission. As per the global evidence, 80 per cent of the cases are mild cases while the remaining 20 per cent may develop complications that would require hospitalization. Out of the hospitalized cases, only 5 per cent may require ICU care. According to experts, the primary treatment is the supportive treatment in more than 80 per cent of the patients and oxygen therapy in around 15 per cent of patients along with other drugs.
The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 934 and the number of cases climbed to 29,435 in the country on Tuesday, according to the ministry.
