The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) on Sunday issued guidelines for home isolation of people with very mild or pre-symptomatic COVID-19 cases.

As per the new guidelines, such patients with the requisite self-isolation facility at their residence will have the option for home isolation.

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For a person to be eligible for home isolation, he/she should be clinically assigned as a very mild case/pre-symptomatic case by the treating medical officer.

Moreover, such cases should have the requisite facility at their residence for self-isolation and also for quarantining the family contacts.

“A care giver should be available to provide care on 24×7 basis. A communication link between the caregiver and hospital is a prerequisite for the entire duration of home isolation,” the guidelines stated.

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The care giver and all close contacts of such cases should take Hydroxychloroquine prophylaxis as per protocol and as prescribed by the treating medical officer, it added.

Moreover, the patients have been asked to download AarogyaSetu app on their mobile phones and also to monitor their health and regularly inform their health status to the District Surveillance Officer for further follow up by the surveillance teams.

As per the new guidelines, the patients with very mild or pre-symptomatic COVID-19 cases seeking home isolation would have to fill an application form available in the MoHFW website.

The patients seeking home isolation have also been asked to keep monitoring their health and seek immediate medical attention if serious signs or symptoms develop including difficulty in breathing, persistent pain/pressure in the chest, mental confusion or inability to arouse, developing bluish discolorations of lips/face and as advised by treating medical officer.

They can end home isolation after 17 days of onset of symptoms (or date of sampling, for pre-symptomatic cases) and no fever for 10 days, the guidelines said.

There is no need for testing after the home isolation period is over, it added.