Doctors have recommended that Covid-19 patients can join work after 10 days of becoming symptoms free – no matter whether coronavirus negative or not as the person is no longer infectious.
Patients are being released from hospitals after three days of not having any symptoms such as fever, cough or breathing problems.
“And then we ask them to stay at home the next seven days. After that they can join work if they are physically well. If possible, they will test. Otherwise, it’s not needed,” Prof Khan Abul Kalam Azad, a member of the national editorial board of the clinical management guideline committee, told Bangladesh Post.
“The person remains no longer infectious after seven to 10 days (of self-isolation),” explained Dr Azad, Professor of medicine and also the principal of Dhaka Medical College.
Another member of the editorial board, Professor Titu Miah, Principal and Professor of Medicine of Mugda Medical College, told Bangladesh Post that they updated the guideline following the WHO’s latest recommendations.
Covid-19 patients in hospitals with severe illness were used to test twice before releasing. If the swabs are both negative in 24 hours apart, they can be discharged and don’t require further self-isolation.
Since hospitals are overloaded across the world and new scientific evidences emerge, the guideline has been changed.
“Now a person is released from hospitalif he or she remains free of symptoms for three days, no matter tests are positive,” Prof Titu Miah said.
“But we advise them to remain isolated at home for seven more days,” he said.
The clinical guideline was updated on May 28, though hospitals were following the discharge criteria from the first week of May.
The WHO also said that the RT-PCR test can be positive even after weeks, but the patient remain non-infectious.
“If a country has the capacity to test all, then they’ll do it. Otherwise it’s not needed,” Prof Azad said.
Prof Titu Miah said “After 14 days of isolation testing is not needed at all.”
They have asked people with mild symptoms to stay at home.
But their oxygen saturation level is suggested to be monitored time to time since they can be hypoxemia (concentration of oxygen dropping in blood stream), which may not be understood from outside.
“Since many of the people live in apartments in the town, I’ll suggest them to keep a ‘Pulse Oximeter’ to check on oxygen concentration in the body,” Prof Azad suggested.
“If oxygen saturation level is found below 94 percent in mild cases, then they should seek hospital care.”
According to the new guideline, healthcare personnel do not need to go for self-isolation if they have been in contact with a patient of COVID-19.
They can carry on their patient care with proper PPE unless symptomatic or tested positive for COVID-19.
Every hospitalised patient will get drugs for the prevention of blood clots formation.
The new guideline also asked every hospital - public and private – to provide treatment to COVID and non-COVID patients.
“These hospitals shall create separate zone for Covid and non-Covid patients in the hospital premise and a triage system will be applied to classify and differentiate the patients.”
“COVID zone will have two separate areas; one for confirmed COVID and another for suspected or probable COVID patients,” according to the new guideline.
As of Tuesday, the government confirmed 52,445 cases of coronavirus and 709 deaths in Bangladesh. So far, 11,120 patients made recoveries from hospitals.
