COVID-19: Tamil Nadu Gives Nod For Treatment At Home For People With Mild Symptoms

Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government has approved a proposal for treating people who test positive for coronavirus at their respective residences if they have very mild symptoms and issued separate guidelines for it. It has been decided to accept a proposal of the Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine for home isolation of those who test positive and have “very mild” symptoms or are “pre-symptomatic,” a Government Order (GO)said.

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For treatment at home, the person diagnosed for COVID-19 should be “clinically assigned as a very mild case /pre-symptomatic case by the treating medical officer,” the GO said. Such people should have requisite facility at their residence for self-isolation and also for quarantining the family contacts.

Availability of a well-ventilated single-room preferably with an attached or separate toilet and the availability of a care giver all the time are among the eligibility norms prescribed by the government. “A communication link between the caregiver and hospital is a prerequisite for the entire duration of home isolation.”

The care giver and all close contacts of such patients should take Hydroxychloroquine as a prophylaxis besides preparations including multivitamins as per protocol and as prescribed by the treating medical officer.

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Immediate medical attention must be sought if serious signs or symptoms develop including persistent cough, pain/pressure in the chest, continuous fever, difficulty in breathing, mental confusion, seizures and decreased urine output.

All suspected (awaiting test results) and confirmed cases of COVID-19 are currently being isolated and managed in a hospital setting. Also, authorities have said that facilities like colleges and others that are designated as COVID care centres,’ are set to be used for asymptomatic people who test positive for the contagion. Several people who have tested positive for the virus here and in other parts of Tamil Nadu have very mild or no symptoms.

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