Covid-free certificates after recovery in Delhi

Patients of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) are presently being discharged without confirmatory tests after resolution of the symptoms.

The Delhi government has directed hospitals to issue Covid-free certificates to patients while discharging them, which experts said would help reduce the stigma around the disease and allow recovered people to go back to their normal lives with ease.

People in PPE coveralls ahead of the cremation of a person who died of the coronavirus, at Nigambodh Ghat in New Delhi. (Biplov Bhuyan/HT PHOTO)

Patients of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) are presently being discharged without confirmatory tests after resolution of the symptoms.

The certificate must mention, “This is to certify hat I have examined …. He/She has recovered from Covid and does not pose a risk to the community. He/ She is asymptomatic at the time of discharge”, the government said.

This was one of the measures recommended by union home minister Amit Shah during his visit to the city’s biggest Covid-19 treatment facility – Lok Nayak hospital.

The government hopes the step would reduce stigma against those who have recovered.

“Now that we are discharging patients without a Covid-19 test, the patients and others in their society were anxious about whether they could spread the infection. This certificate will give assurance to the patients that they are free from the infection,” the administrator of one of Delhi government’s Covid-19 hospitals said on condition of anonymity.

“People living in the same society and the resident welfare associations are apprehensive after a person is discharged from hospital. Now, that they no longer have a negative Covid-19 test, the certificate will help ease their situation. Apart from that, screening is being done at airports and railway stations to check people for symptoms before they travel. This certificate will ensure ease in travelling,” said Dr Suresh Kumar, medical director, Lok Nayak hospital.

“There have been requests from people about similar certificates to join back work,” Dr Kumar said.

The Covid-free certificate is along the lines of the immunity certificate, which the World Health Organisation had warned against in April-end, saying there was no evidence to show people who had recovered were protected from a second infection. Allowing immunity certificates for easing out of strict social distancing norms might fuel the continued spread of the infection, WHO had warned.

The same month, Chile announced that it would start issuing “release certificates”. Similar immunity certificates had also been considered by Germany, Italy and the US.

A ‘comment’ published in the Lancet in May about ethics of immunity certificates says, “Vaccination certificates incentivise individuals to obtain vaccination against a virus, which is a social good. By contrast, immunity certificates incentivise infection.”

However, Dr Kumar said, “This should not be seen as an immunity certificate. It is a certificate of recovery.”

Dr Jugal Kishore, head of community medicine at Safdarjung hospital, said this will certainly ease the minds of residents when someone returns home after treatment. “I have been asked for such certificates by many for returning to work. However, even if it is considered to be immunity certificate, there is no evidence from India at least to show reinfection. A sizeable population already recovered in India as well as the US must have been exposed to the infection again, but no such cases have been reported. So far, only South Korea has reported a few reinfections. The studies so far show good antibody levels even at six weeks. We have to wait to see how long the immunity lasts,” he said.

Dr Kishore, however, warned people against being lax about social distancing, wearing masks and washing hands.