Recovered patients not carriers: Govt

NEW DELHI: Patients who recover from Covid-19 do not transmit the infection, the health ministry clarified on Monday, appealing to the people to stop discriminating against those who have fought off the disease as health-care workers engaged in treating cases.

“The recovered people do not infect others; in fact, they can be a potential source for healing..,” said Lav Agarwal, joint secretary in the Union health ministry.

The official cited the fact the antibody-rich blood plasma of recovered patients was being used in experimental plasma therapy which, if it proves to be successful, can be used to treat more people ill with Covid-19. “Sometimes lack of awareness or proper understanding can result in people experiencing fear or panic against Covid-19 patients, or frontline healthcare workers, and we start stigmatizing them. We discriminate against them; however, we must understand we have to fight the infection, not the infected or those working to protect us from getting infected,” said Agarwal.

Many people with Covid-19like symptoms are not coming forward to access treatment because of the stigma attached to the highly infectious disease, according to doctors, while there have been reports of health-care workers being shunned because they are engaged in treating patients of the disease.

Some people with flu-like symptoms are reporting to hospital when they reach a stage where they are actually gasping for breath, Randeep Guleria, director, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi, had earlier said. “It is unfortunate that instead of sympathizing with these patients, we have created an environment of panic and stigma...This is a worrisome trend as it would affect the mortality rate in the long run,” Dr Guleria said.