Earlier, in India, patients had to test negative twice for the coronavirus before being discharged from the hospitals.
New Delhi| The Union Health Ministry on Saturday informed that no reverse transcription PCR or RT-PCR tests, conducted to detect pathogens in the body of infected patients, will be done on Covid-19 positive patients having mild symptoms before they are discharged. The new guidelines come in the wake of the coronavirus cases inching towards 60,000 mark in India.
“As we learn more about the illness, our guidelines will also evolve based on the learning from our experience, studies conducted by other countries and guidelines set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the top health body in US,” a senior official informed further adding that the new guidelines are drawn to withdraw the burden on the hospitals across the country if the number of severe coronavirus cases grows in coming days.
The new guidelines read- “Very mild, mild and pre-symptomatic cases can be discharged after 10 days of symptom onset and no fever for three days. No test is required before discharge from COVID-19 care centres”.
According to the health ministry, in regards to the moderate cases, if fever resolves in three days and no oxygen support is required, the patients can be discharged after 10 days of onset of symptoms. The fresh guidelines also cleared that if the fever doesn’t resolve in three days and the patients require oxygen support, then they can be “discharged only after resolution of clinical symptoms and ability to maintain oxygen saturation for three consecutive days.”
In all these cases the patients can be discharged without RT-PCR test as their symptoms are relieved. Though, they will have to be home quarantine for 7 days.
Also, patients with severe symptoms can be discharged only after “clinical recovery” and “after testing negative once by RT-PCR”. Earlier, In India, patients had to test negative twice for the coronavirus before being discharged from the hospitals.
After the discharge, if the patients develop symptoms such as fever, breathing difficulty, or cough again, they can contact the Covid care centres or the government helplines.
According to the several experts and data received by the states, a significant amount of Covid-19 cases in India are asymptomatic, meaning the patients do not show the symptoms of Covid-19 such as fever, cough, breathlessness, etc.
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