Govt brings down institutional quarantine from 21 to 7 days

Bhubaneswar: As Covid-19 cases continue to rise, the state government on Sunday revised the quarantine norms for returnees, reducing the period of institutional quarantine from 21 to seven days with another week in home isolation.
“Returnees in rural areas will undergo seven days of mandatory institutional quarantine, after which asymptomatic persons will be discharged to undergo home quarantine for a further period of seven days,” the government said in an official statement. “If local authorities find it necessary to extend the period of institutional quarantine for reasons related to containment of Covid-19 and to prevent spread of infection, they may do so,” the statement added.
In case the person in quarantine develops symptoms requiring medical attention, the person may be shifted to a Covid care centre, the government informed. The revised guidelines have been sent to all district collectors.
The new norms will allow more than 1.50 lakh people, who returned to the state a week back, to head home if they do not show symptoms. As many as 1,51,065 people have returned to the state till May 17. As per earlier norms, these people would have had to stay in institutional quarantine for 21 days. They will now vacate the centres for new returnees.
P K Mohapatra, additional chief secretary of the heath and family welfare department, said, “We have aligned our quarantine guidelines with that of the Centre to 14 days of quarantine. The quarantine period of 21 and 28 days, as prescribed by the state government, was creating confusion among the people.”
In urban areas, each person on return from outside Odisha will have to stay in home quarantine for a period of 14 days, observing Covid-19 guidelines. If the returnee does not have a proper quarantine facility at home, he or she may stay in institutional or paid quarantine for a period as directed by the local authorities, the government added.
Former director of AIIMS, Bhubaneswar and vice-chancellor of SOA University, Dr Ashok Mohaptra said, “The World Health Organisation (WHO) has recommended 14 days quarantine and the Centre, too, has said that positive cases can be treated in home isolation. So, the state did nothing wrong in reducing the quarantine period.” However, he said there was no urgent need to reduce the period of institutional quarantine as the state has developed good infrastructure to fight the increasing number of positive cases.
Asked about the government move, Dr E Venkata Rao, a professor in community medicine, said, “The healthcare infrastructure in the country is not able to handle the number of positive cases increasing by the day. People need to be cautious and take preventive measures to keep the virus at bay and check transmission. This move could have been to reduce the burden on institutional quarantine centres.”
The state, meanwhile, has decided that government officials, professionals, businessmen or any other person travelling to Odisha on work and intending to exit within 72 hours of arrival or any returnee who has already undergone prescribed isolation, are exempted from mandatory quarantine.
EoM