Only severe cases to be tested before discharge: Centre

NEWDELHI:THE Union health ministry on Friday revised its discharge guidelines for coronavirus disease (Covid-19) patients, requiring only patients who had developed a severe illness or have compromised immunity to test negative through a swab test before they are allowed to leave the hospital or a care centre.

The other category of patients, including very mild, mild, presymptomatic and moderate cases need not be tested before discharge.

The revised discharge guidelines are in contrast with the government’s previous rules that said a laboratory confirmed case had to be tested on day 14 once and then again in a span of 24 hours -if both the results are negative then the patient is fit to be discharged from the health care facility.

Joint secretary, health ministry, Lav Agarwal, said: “The ministry has issued detailed guidelines as per the clinical status of the patient that should be followed.”

The revised discharge policy is aligned with guidelines on the 3-tier Covid-19 health facilities and the categorization of patients based on clinical severity — mild, moderate and severe.

“For mild, very mild and presymptomatic cases admitted to a Covid Care Facility will undergo regular temperature and pulse monitoring. Patient can be discharged after 10 days of symptom onset and if they have no fever for 3 days. There will be no need for testing prior to discharge. At the time of discharge, patient will be advised to follow the home isolation for 7 more days,” say the revised guidelines.