Ineffectiveness of home isolation guidelines
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: May 24 , 2021 -

WHILE it's heartening to hear chief minister N Biren conceding that there are certain loopholes in the protocols for home isolation of non-serious Covid-19 patients, it is equally disturbing that there are many assembly constituencies which are yet to see operation of community home isolation centres (CHICs) to house mild or asymptomatic patients.

With hospitals and Covid care centres in the state running out of beds and declining to admit fresh patients owing to varied reasons amid the daily new cases showing no signs of abatement, ensuring strict compliance with the home isolation guidelines and setting up the CHICs proportionate with the rate of infections need to be prioritised to effectively contain the pandemic.

Ever since the infectious disease started to spread in the state, the government authorities have been devising different strategies and improvising on the containment measures to keep the contagion under control.

However, all these hard works seem inadequate during the second wave of the pandemic. With the addition of new cases in multiple hundreds and the casualty figure inching towards the 300-mark since onset of the virulent second wave, a number of state, constituency and locality/village level committees or task force teams are being constituted to determine reasons for the continuous spikes and fatalities.

Imposition of curfew for over a fortnight too has not been yielding the desired results as could be comprehended from Imphal East and Imphal West districts, which have densest population and deployment of law enforcement personnel, topping the chart in terms of both daily and cumulative positive cases.

Thus, the prevailing disturbing situation implies existence of certain flaws in implementation and adherence of/to the standard guidelines.

As such, the CM's observation that there have been some mistakes in the protocol for Covid-19 positive patients undergoing home isolation in their respective homes and decision to entrust medical personnel make home visits to enquire health condition of the patients as well as oversee compliance with the home isolation rules will hopefully help to stem the rot.

As stated by the CM the government will depute doctors and support staff for monitoring patients in home isolation and provide them with necessary medicines and assistive kits.

Though the move, albeit belated, merits commendation, the monitoring teams should also give counselling to impress upon the patients and their family members that by remaining indoors and preventing further spread of the disease in the neighbourhood they would be doing great service to the society.

However, the unruly scenes created at institutional and community quarantine centres over petty issues by native returnees during the first wave should serve as a grim reminder to the government that not everybody, especially the asymptomatic patients, in home isolation or people staying in containment zones would enthusiastically follow the safety protocols.

For instance, the recent report of a resident in Moreh town whose house is within the containment zone, venturing out to the market place testifies that there might be many others who are either ignorant about the SOPs or have devilish intention.

Thus, it is wished that either the authorities concerned sternly forewarn patients opting for home isolation not to flout the guidelines or establish community home isolation centres in all the assembly segments for mandatory confining of all the mildly symptomatic and asymptomatic patients.