COVID-19: Home quarantine for asymptomatic patients, sensible step says Omar

Srinagar, Jul 28: Welcoming the government decision to allow home quarantine for all asymptomatic patients with no co-morbidity and not vulnerable otherwise, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said the decision should have been taken much earlier.

'Finally a decision that should have been taken much earlier', the Vice president of the National Conference (NC) said in a tweet on late Monday night.

He further said 'The decision to admit all COVID positive cases to hospitals has put a huge burden on the health infrastructure & personnel. This is a sensible step in the right direction to admit only those needing medical care.'

In a significant decision taken on Monday with regard to management of COVID-19 patients and in line with the earlier decision of reserving four tertiary hospitals in Srinagar as referral centres, the three tertiary hospitals in Jammu city should also be only referral hospitals for COVID-19 admissions.

Chief Secretary B V R Subrahmanyam, who chaired the meeting, said that it has been felt that the present practice of hospitalisation of COVID-19 patients needs to be regulated so as to avoid unnecessary strain on the health care system.

He further said, that the hospital beds of tertiary hospitals were required to be kept available for more severe cases who may need intensive monitoring in a hospital setting.

Keeping in view of better management of COVID-19 patients, the protocol with regard to management of COVID-19 patients would be revised and all asymptomatic patients with no co-morbidity and not vulnerable otherwise would be allowed to remain under home quarantine, if they have a separate room facility at home and have downloaded the AAROGYA Setu application on their phones, the Chief Secretary stated.

He further stated that all such patients would be provided with a pulse oximeter to monitor their oxygen saturation levels and in event of drop in oxygen saturation below 90 per cent they shall immediately report to hospitals.
A poster should also be put up outside their home displaying therein the quarantine status. Reach out teams constituted by the Health Department should monitor health status of these patients, the Chief Secretary maintained.