Haryana issues new guidelines for home isolation care of COVID-19 patients

The Haryana government on Friday issued new guidelines to strengthen the home isolation care of COVID-19 patients across the state, wherein emphasis is on in-person visits by the 'district home isolation monitoring team' on every alternate day.

During a virtual meeting, Additional Chief Secretary, Health Department, Rajeev Arora, said that around 60 to 70 per cent of coronavirus infected persons are in home isolation. "Thus, we need to augment the home isolation policy providing appropriate care and treatment to the patients," he added.

He said, "Asymptomatic and symptomatic patients, who are in home isolation, usually are unable to follow the guidelines like staying in a separate room, a caregiver to look after the needs of the patient. Subsequently, the 'district home isolation monitoring team' will visit the patient on alternate days to monitor if the guidelines are being followed."

Sharing the details of the new policy issued, Chief Executive Officer, Ayushman Bharat Haryana Health Protection Authority, Ashok Kumar Meena, said the concerned teams can check the number of patients on home isolation from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) portal and make visits on alternate days.

Each field team will consist of one assistant medical officer (AMO), one auxiliary nurse midwife (ANM) and one accredited social health activist (ASHA) worker. The teams will also check if separate washrooms are being used if the patient is co-morbid other than the vital parameters.

The information regarding the condition of the patient will be shared with the concerned nodal officers at block-level and district-level, Meena added.

Mission Director, National Health Mission, Haryana, Prabhjot Singh said the 'district home isolation monitoring team' will decide whether the patient is to be kept in home isolation or not. The team will be checking the vitals like the pulse, temperature, blood pressure and oxygen level of the patient.

Haryana on Friday reported 2,488 new COVID-19 cases and 23 deaths, taking the tally to 1,06,261 including 83,878 recoveries, 21,291 active cases and 1,092 deaths, according to the state health department.

( With inputs from ANI )