Asymptomatic Covid positive international travellers: TAC prefers 5-day stay at CCCs

The state Covid-19 Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), at its 145th meeting on Monday, suggested that instead of the 10-day hospitalisation of Covid positive international travellers from at-risk countries, asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic international travellers should be kept in Covid care centres (CCCs).

Every day, six to eight international passengers arriving from high-risk countries are testing Covid positive at the state’s international airports, in Bengaluru and Mangaluru, who are then moved to hospitals.

But more than 90% of these patients are asymptomatic. Even mildly symptomatic patients have recovered in one to three days, including the Omicron positive cases.

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TAC suggested that service at the government CCCs could be free, budget hotels could be attached to government hospitals and private CCCs (of different categories: three-star, five-star) could be attached to private hospitals on a payment basis.

The duration of the CCC/institution isolation should be for five days, and if the patient is free of respiratory symptoms and his/her oxygen saturation is over 94% during the preceding three days, they can be discharged following a negative RT-PCR test on the fifth day, the TAC recommended.

In case of asymptomatic, the isolation shall count from the day of sample collection/testing.

This should be followed by five further days of home quarantine. At the end of these five days, if asymptomatic, then they can be released from home quarantine without further testing, the TAC suggested.

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Those who test RT-PCR positive on repeated tests after the 10th day, as per existing protocol, can be discharged on the 14th day based on clinical assessment by the treating physician.

‘Need for beds for deserving’

The above recommendations were made because of a rise in the number of Covid cases locally and a possible need for more hospital beds for the deserving (moderate and severe) cases.

TAC chairman Dr M K Sudarshan said, “We need to establish good CCCs in the public sector which are free and in the private sector, in hotels, on payment-basis, like in hotels. They can tie up with hospitals and have trained manpower, besides supply of medicines.”

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“The facility of home isolation with telemonitoring should soon be activated and only those who are eligible like asymptomatics and mildly symptomatic, and having facilities at home with a caregiver should be permitted,” he said.

Triage centres

The TAC also recommended starting triage centres again in wards and PHCs, and taluk hospitals with medical and paramedical manpower.

Newer treatment regimens having Molnupiravir, Remdesivir and intravenous fluids for patients above 60 years, the obese and those with comorbidities, was recommended.

It also recommended the opening of the new Covid field hospital at Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases, now that there is an uptick in cases.

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