Patients’ health conditions to be assessed at Covid-19 care centres before home isolation in Delhi

After the initial assessment, if the team finds that the person has no co-morbidities and does not require hospitalisation, the patient can either continue to stay at the care centres, move to paid isolation facilities such as hotels, or opt to remain in home isolation.

All patients who test positive for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in Delhi will be referred to Covid Care Centres for an assessment of their clinical conditions, severity of illness and the presence of co-morbidities. At the same time, their houses will be assessed to check whether they have adequate facilities for isolation such as two rooms and separate toilets, according to the modified home isolation guidelines in the national capital.

A health worker wearing PPE coveralls collects swab samples at a COVID-19 testing centre, near Turkman Gate, in New Delhi. (Raj K Raj/HT PHOTO)

After the initial assessment, if the team finds that the person has no co-morbidities and does not require hospitalisation, the patient can either continue to stay at the care centres, move to paid isolation facilities such as hotels, or opt to remain in home isolation, according to the order by Delhi’s principal health secretary, Vikram Dev Dutt, issued late Saturday night.

This comes after the Delhi Disaster Management Authority reversed its order mandating five-day institutional isolation for every person who tested positive.

Earlier, patients were to remain at home after testing positive and a team was sent to their homes to conduct the clinical assessment as well as assessment of their homes. Delhi started home isolation is April 30 and was one of the first states to adopt it.

Currently, 12,611 people in home isolation in the city. There are 23,340 active cases or those still living with the infection, according to Delhi’s daily health bulletin.