The state health department has advised home isolations for Covid-19 positive patients showing no symptoms and mild symptoms like dry cough, anosmia, ageusia, nasal block, sore throat, weakness, diarrhoea, myalgia etc with fever.

Asymptomatic Covid patients with co-morbidities have also been advised to stay quarantined at home. Considering alarming surge in number of Covid-19 patients in the state the health department has issued guidelines today dividing patients into three categories – all asymptomatic patients, comorbid patients with no symptoms (prioritise to control the comorbid state) and cases with mild symptoms including dry cough, anosmia, ageusia, nasal block, sore throat, weakness, diarrhoea, myalgia etc with fever, no signs of respiratory distress, oxygen saturation level 94 % or below, normal mental status, symbolic blood pressure below 100mmHg and respiratory rate above 24 per minute.

According to the guidelines, patients under home isolation should be given supportive management, masks, hand hygiene, physical distancing, droplet precaution, paracetamol (if fever and bodyache), anti-histaminic (if needed), inhalation of Budesonide 800 mcg twice daily for five days if distressing cough for more than five days.

Systemic steroids should not be used routinely in mild cases, the guidelines stated. The guidelines did not advise the use of Monoclonal cocktail therapy that was used for treating Mr Sourav Ganguly when he was undergoing novel coronavirus treatment at a private hospital last week.

According to the health department, the central government is yet to send any directive to the state in connection with the use of cocktail therapy. The health department has also mentioned several warning signs considering the conditions of patients.

According to the guidelines, breathing trouble, persistent fever/high grade fever for more than seven days, recurrence of fever, palpitations, chest pains or tightness, severe cough, onset of new symptoms etc should be regarded as warning signs. Patients showing these warning signs should be considered for admissions to Covid wards or ICUs in respective hospitals, the guidelines stated.