After rule change, 700 put in home isolation

Noida: In the three weeks following change in guidelines for Covid-19 patients, about 720 people have been put in home quarantine in the city.
On May 15, the UP government had allowed home quarantine as cases started rising across the state. Earlier, after patients tested positive for Covid-19, all their primary contacts and symptomatic secondary contacts were mandatorily taken for institutional quarantine and tested.
Now, however, only high-risk and symptomatic primary contacts are taken to institutional quarantine. The rest, including low-risk family members and secondary contacts, have to stay at home. However, it needs to be ensured that all family members have separate rooms and toilets while they remain at home.
The authorities are also making arrangements for separate waste collection from homes where people have been quarantined.
“Once a person tests positive, the RRT team immediately takes him or her to the isolation centre. The primary contacts are checked for symptoms and if there are no symptomatic family members, they are asked to stay in mandatory home quarantine. A sticker marking the same is pasted outside the house and the surveillance team is informed. The family members are also asked to download the Aarogya Setu and UPTSU apps,” said Dr Amit Vikram, the nodal officer for the rapid response teams.
“In case of elderly people and children who need help, we have allowed symptomatic primary contacts to stay in home quarantine till their reports come. In some cases, we realised it was difficult for such groups to stay in institutional quarantine without help. Additionally, there may be higher risk at the centres if these people have comorbidities,” said Narendra Bhooshan, the nodal officer for Covid-19 response in the district.
Districts are also avoiding keeping people in institutional quarantine after the state recently reduced the budget for those centres. “The budget per person initially was Rs 250, which was reduced to Rs 100 later and has further come down to Rs 80. It is difficult to provide meals and all other medical facilities at this rate,” said a health department official. While Delhi has allowed mild and asymptomatic Covid patients to stay in home isolation, UP’s rules do not permit the same, and all those who test positive must be shifted to isolation wards.