Omicron: Govt issues new guidlines

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: The state government on Friday released fresh guidelines for patients who have recovered after testing positive for the Omicron Variant. The new guidelines say that patients with mild, moderate and severe Covid infection can be discharged 10 days after the onset of symptoms, provided they meet certain criteria.

Patients with mild infection can be discharged after 10 days of onset of symptoms if they have no fever or any other symptom for the last three consecutive days before discharge (without antipyretics). They should maintain a saturation of above 95% for the last 4 consecutive days (without oxygen support) and inflammatory markers should be normal or on the decline during a repeat test at the time of discharge.

“The patient can be discharged only after two negative RT-PCR reports 24 hours apart. If the report is positive, the test should be repeated after 48 hours. At the time of discharge, the patient should be advised home quarantine and self-monitoring of health for seven days. A repeat RT-PCR test should be done on the sixth day of discharge. If the report is negative, the patient can be released from home quarantine. If there’s no facility for home quarantine, institutional quarantine is advised,” the guidelines stated.

Following the discharge, the district surveillance officer should follow up the patients at their homes through the tele-monitoring team in the community and using the quarantine app. Those undergoing home quarantine after discharge need to watch for onset of any new symptoms like fever, cough, breathlessness, chest pain, weakness. If any of these are detected, they should immediately consult a doctor,” the circular stated.

With moderate infection, apart from the above criteria, there should be resolution of breathlessness and other clinical symptoms (based on the report of investigations). However, patients having strong symptoms will be discharged only after complete clinical recovery including three consecutive days without fever and other symptoms, oxygen saturation above 95 per cent for four consecutive days and other clinical testing parameters.

The RT-PCR tests will be done 24 hours apart after patients have had no symptoms for three days.

Airport testing

The Karnataka health department on Thursday decided to allow travellers testing positive for Covid-19 on arrival at airports, to be admitted to private hospitals at their own cost. So far they were able to avail treatment only at government facilities.

A circular issued by the state health commissioner on Friday said passengers arriving from countries classified as being ‘at-risk countries’ – following the discovery of the Omicron variant of the Covid 19 virus – and testing positive at the airport “can also opt for isolation, treatment and Covid management facilities at notified private health care facilities”. It is also claimed that in December no foreign traveller to Bengaluru has so far tested positive.