The decision to keep Covid patients with mild symptoms in home isolation was taken to take the load off hospitals. The move will also take care of the common problem of loneliness that patients feel when they are admitted to a hospital or a Covid care centre.
Apart from a separate room for the patient and other family members, who have been home quarantined, there should be a caregiver to take care of the patient 24x7. The patient and the caregiver need to follow guidelines during the 14-day period (16 days from the date of sample taken).
The giudelines state that the patient must download the Aarogya Setu mobile application and able to measure his temperature on a regular basis and inform the health status to the district surveillance officer for further follow up. A caregiver should be available to provide care on a 24 x7 basis. A communication link between the caregiver and hospital is a prerequisite for the entire duration of home isolation.
The patient and the caregiver should wear three-layered medical masks and gloves, maintain personal hygiene, regularly wash hands among others. The home isolation ends only if symptoms are clinically resolved and the surveillance medical officer certifies him/her to be free of infection after laboratory testing.
SAHILI SAWANT DESSAI, Curchorem
