Revised discharge policy for COVID-19 patients

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TOPIC: General Studies 2

• Global Crisis – COVID-19

In News: The Union Health Ministry has revised discharge rules for patients suffering from coronavirus infection. The health ministry shared a three-tier discharge policy with guidelines and instructions to be followed before, during, and after the discharge of coronvirus patients.

Mild/very mild/pre-symptomatic cases

• Mild/very mild/pre-symptomatic cases admitted to a COVID Care Facility will undergo regular temperature and pulse oximetry monitoring. The patient can be discharged after 10 days of symptom onset and no fever for 3 days. There will be no need for testing prior to discharge.
• At the time of discharge, the patient will be advised to follow the home isolation for further 7 days.
• At any point of time, prior to discharge from CCC, if the oxygen saturation dips below 95%, patient is to be moved to Dedicated COVID Health Centre (DCHC).
• After discharge from the facility, if he/she again develops symptoms of fever, cough or breathing difficulty he will contact the COVID Care Centre or State helpline or 1075. His/her health will again be followed up through tele-conference on 14th day.

Moderate cases

1) Patients whose symptoms resolve within 3 days and maintains saturation above 95% for the next 4 days

Cases clinically classified as “moderate cases” will undergo monitoring of body temperature and oxygen saturation. If the fever resolve within 3 days and the patient maintains saturation above 95% for the next 4 days (without oxygen support), such patient will be discharged after 10 days of symptom onset in case of:

• Absence of fever without antipyretics
• Resolution of breathlessness
• No oxygen requirement

There will be no need for testing prior to discharge.

At the time of discharge, the patient will be advised to follow the home isolation for 7 days as per guidelines available at

2) Patient on Oxygenation whose fever does not resolve within 3 days and demand of oxygen therapy continues

Such patients will be discharged only after

• resolution of clinical symptoms
• ability to maintain oxygen saturation for 3 consecutive days

Severe Cases including immunocompromised (HIV patients, transplant recipients, malignancy)

Discharge criteria for severe cases will be based on

• Clinical recovery
• Patient tested negative once by RT-PCR (after resolution of symptoms)

The death toll due to coronavirus rose to 1,981 and the number of cases climbed to 59,662 today, according to the Union health ministry.