BENGALURU: The state government has come up with revised discharge policy guidelines, wherein asymptomatic patients can be discharged 10 days after testing positive for Covid-19. Here is an example: A patient whose swab was taken on June 1, and tested positive, is to be discharged after 10 days, on June 11. There is no need for RT-PCR, CBNAAT, True-NAT test either before discharge. However, it is important that during this period, the patient shall remain free of symptoms.
At the time of discharge, the patient is advised home quarantine for 14 days. The criteria that needs to be met for discharge are no symptoms — no fever, oxygen saturation above 90% and respiratory rate less that 24 per minute. For mild and moderate cases, patients shall be discharged 10 days after the onset of symptoms, if the criteria is met -- no fever, no symptoms for three consecutive days before discharge, resolution of breathlessness and clinical signs, repeat inflammatory markers and saturation above 95% for four consecutive days.
There is no need for a test to be done before discharge. The patients should remain in home quarantine for 14 days. In the case of severely compromised immunity, HIV patients, transplant recipients, malignancy, patients shall be discharged only after complete clinical recovery, and one test should be done three days after complete clinical recovery. The patient is to be discharged if report comes negative. In case the swab test comes positive, it shall be repeated after 72 hours. The patient is advised 14 days of home quarantine.