NOIDA: More than half of the city’s active Covid patients have opted for home isolation. Of the 1,193 active cases, 607 are recovering at home. Officials said the number of such patients had increased from 420 in just one week.
According to authorities, the recent spike in patients opting for home isolation is all the more because of the falling temperatures. Patients with symptoms, they said, are preferring to recover in the comfort of their homes because of the dip in mercury.
Since July 28, when the UP government had allowed the home isolation of Covid patients, 4,233 people have opted for it. Of them, a total of 174 patients had to be admitted to Covid hospitals in the district after they turned moderately serious while recovering at home. But there has been no fatality of such patients so far.
The Noida health department has set up an integrated Covid control centre in Sector 59 to keep watch on patients in home isolation. “We have a 35-member team, including five doctors, at the control centre. They are engaged in 24x7 monitoring of these patients through both audio and video calls from the Sector 59 control centre. Apart from them, 16 other teams having two members in each are visiting houses where there are patients. Earlier, these teams would visit houses once in 72 hours. But now, they are doing so every 48 hours,” said Dr Lalit Kumar, additional chief medical officer (ACMO) and the nodal officer in charge of the home isolation cell at the centre.
According to Dr Lalit, the recent rise in home isolation requests is because of the cold weather conditions. “Plus, there are spillovers from the spike during the festive season,” he added.
UP health minister Jai Pratap Singh, who visited the city last week to inaugurate a dialysis facility at the District Hospital, appreciated the functioning of the teams watching over patients in home isolation. “Apart from checking the medical condition of such patients daily and delivering health kits to them, we ensure there is no delay in shifting patients to hospitals when required. Even comorbid patients, who have been shifted to hospitals, have recovered and returned home. So far, we have admitted 174 patients to Covid hospitals. All have recovered and there has been no fatality,” said an operator at the control centre.
Patients in home isolation are advised to wear masks, monitor their oxygen saturation levels every two hours and report to the authorities immediately if it falls below 92. They are also advised to call the control room if they have problems breathing, cough or tiredness.