Lahore: The Punjab government on Tuesday finalised a set of guidelines for COVID-19 patients observing home isolation and forwarded them to Chief Minister (CM) Sardar Usman Buzdar for approval, a news source reported.
The guidelines were presented during a meeting of the Punjab health department. Representatives of the World Health Organisation (WHO)’s Corona Expert Advisory Panel were also present at the occasion. It was decided that asymptomatic, PCR-positive, and patients will mild symptoms would be advised to observe home isolation.
What are the guidelines prepared by the Punjab government for home isolation?
It was decided that asymptomatic persons and patients with mild symptoms under the age of 60 years and without underlining health conditions, such as renal failure, heart disease, and lung disease would be allowed to isolate themselves at home. Such individuals should not be living alone; however, they should distance themselves from other family members or caretakers.
The patients and household members of the patients should be guided about the necessary protocols to check infection among the household members. Home-isolated individuals should be given written instructions regarding symptoms. Additionally, they should be in contact with health providers via telemedicine.
The individual should be placed in a well-ventilated single room and their movement in shared spaces should be minimised. Infected individuals should also avoid cooking and serving food to household members and no visitors should be allowed during the isolation period.
The isolated individual should perform hygiene practices such as wash hands for 20 seconds, wear a surgical mask, and cover mouth and nose properly if the mask is not available. Also, the surfaces in the isolation room should be disinfected along with the bathroom on a daily basis. The individual should be tested for COVID-19 after 10 days of isolation and if testing is not possible, they should observe self-isolation for additional two weeks after the symptoms disappear.
