With a majority of COVID-19 patients in Mizoram showing no symptoms for the virus, the state government has framed guidelines to place “asymptomatic patients” under home isolation in a bid to ease the shortage of hospitals to treat COVID-19 positive patients, a health department official said on Tuesday.

The guideline issued by the government on Tuesday said that COVID-19 patients showing no symptoms and with mild or very mild symptoms will be allowed to stay in home isolation under strict monitoring by health officials.

The person should be clinically assigned as a very mild or pre-symptomatic or asymptomatic case by the treating medical officer, it said.

However, persons suffering from immunocompromised status such as HIV, transplant recipients, cancer therapy are not eligible for home isolation, said the guideline.

Elderly patients aged above 60 years and those with co-morbid conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, chronic lung/liver/kidney disease among others will only be allowed home isolation after proper evaluation by a registered doctor or medical practitioner.

Persons seeking for home isolation should have the requisite facilities at their residences for self-isolation like isolated room and bathroom so as to avoid contact with other family members.

They should also get permission from the village or local level task force of their village or locality, the guideline said.

According to the guideline, a caregiver should be available to provide care on a 24×7 basis and the patients will be monitored by the health department.

A caregiver will keep monitoring the health condition of the patient and seek immediate medical attention in case the patient develops serious signs or symptoms, which include difficulty in breathing, dip in oxygen saturation ((SpO2 < 95%), persistent pain/pressure in the chest, mental confusion or inability to arouse, Slurred speech/seizures, weakness or numbness in any limb or face and developing bluish discolourations of lips or face among others.

Home isolation guidelines have been issued following the surge in Covid-19 cases in the state and to ease the shortage of COVID-19 Care Centres to treat COVID-19 positive patients, officials said.

They said that the state government is making massive efforts to set up more Covid-19 Care Centres to treat Covid-19 positive patients as it is bound to a crisis if the number of Covid-19 patients keeps increasing at a higher rate.

The government has so far set up 35 makeshift COVID-19 Care Centres, which can accommodate about 1,700 patients.

Mizoram has only one dedicated COVID-19 hospital- Zoram Medical College (ZMC) where symptomatic Covid-19 patients and those with comorbid conditions are being treated.

Asymptomatic positive patients are treated in COVID|-19 Care Centres.

Mizoram on Tuesday reported 40 cases, taking the state’s COVID-19 caseload to 1,468.