New policy could see 185 of 196 Covid-19 patients in city go home

Nagpur: If state health department adopts the revised discharge policy of Covid-19 patients issued by the Ministry of health and Family Welfare, more than 90% of the patients admitted in the isolation wards of two government hospitals in city can go home in next three days.
To be precise, 185 of total 196 active positive cases in Nagpur can be discharged because most of them are pre-symtomatic and some have very mild or mild symptoms.
The term pre-symptomatic is used for those who have tested positive 19 but are not showing any symptoms. It’s not that such patients are ‘asymptomatic’, but that they develop symptoms later and start transmitting the virus 24 to 48 hours before they develop symptoms.
According to the new policy, pre-symptomatic patients and those having mild/very mild infection can be discharged after ten days of symptom onset and if there is no fever for three days. There will be no need for testing prior to discharge. At present, patients are tested twice – on 14th and 15th day of isolation— and discharged only if the swab samples test Covid-19 negative both times.
According to new policy, patient discharged after 10 days will have to be in home isolation for further seven days. Earlier, after 14 days of isolation at hospital, patients had to follow another 14 day home quarantine.
On the same line, more than 75% of the active Covid-19 cases in Vidarbha region are pre-symtomatic or having mild symptoms. All of them could be benefitted by this policy. Vidarbha had 666 total cases on May 11, with 201 already discharged and 33 deaths. This means, more than 320 patients in Vidarbha might get discharged in next three days.
Taking a step forward, the revised guidelines make patients having moderate infection eligible for discharge in ten days, if their symptoms resolve within three days and they maintain oxygen saturation above 95% for the next four days. Nagpur has nine patients showing moderate symptoms at present. However, the policy needs to be locally accepted and implemented. It depends on the state health department, district administration and the civic body whether to accept and implement it.
In Nagpur, the revised policy has not been adopted till May 11. But it is likely to be adopted soon with the notification by district authorities and civil surgeon.