BMC issues fresh guidelines and warning signs for home isolation patients

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Wednesday, March 31 released new guidelines for home isolation of patients as coronavirus cases continue to mount in the city.

In the revised guidelines, BMC has also directed to restrict the movement of home-isolated patients within their residence too to curb the spread of COVID-19. 

Moreover, the civic body also listed out specific warning signs to watch out for immediate hospital transfer of patients under home isolation.

Patients receive an IVR call daily and are required to respond to the call as it is from BMC and for the patient’s own benefit.

Meanwhile, BMC has also asked its officers to ensure that home-isolated patients monitor their health and take treatment for the infection from their family physician and continue their regular treatment for comorbidities if any. Apart from that, a dedicated team of civic staff must do a random check of 10 per cent of patients daily to find whether he or she is violating home isolation rules.

A medical officer from a civic ward said the revised guidelines circular goes beyond reiterating what was being followed so far to include specific warning signs to watch out for in asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic patients.

The list of warning signs that would need hospital admission includes:

• difficulty in breathing
• oxygen saturation below 95 per cent on fingertip pulse oximeter
• a persistent fever of 100.4 or higher for more than 24 hours
• persistent pain or pressure in the chest, cough, hypoxic on mild exertion such as a six-minute walk test and climbing one or two flights of stairs
• mental confusion or inability to wake up
• slurred speech, seizures, weakness or numbness in any limb or face, bluish discolouration of lips or face, signs of the onset of any organ dysfunction such as hypotension, drowsiness and kidney dysfunction.