Karnataka's Commissionerate for Health and Family Welfare has issued a discharge policy for Omicron variant recovered persons from hospitals and warned that any deviations from the discharge protocol would be viewed seriously, sources told IANS on Friday, December 10. Separate guidelines have been specified for mild, moderate, and severe cases.
In the case of mild to moderate symptoms, the patient can be discharged after 10 days of symptoms' onset if no fever and no symptoms are found in the last three days before discharge and saturation maintained above 95% for the last four consecutive days without oxygen support, the guidelines said. Patients shall be discharged only after two negative RT-PCR reports 24 hours apart. If the report is positive, the swab test shall be repeated after 48 hours.
According to Hindustan Times, in cases with severe symptoms, patients will need two negative RT-PCR reports 24 hours apart three days after complete clinical recovery, to be discharged.
At the time of discharge, the patients shall be advised to quarantine themselves at home and self monitor their health for further seven days. They have to be monitored by a district surveillance officer. Under home quarantine, RT-PCR test is to be repeated on the sixth day of quarantine. If negative, the individual can be released from home quarantine.
On Friday, December 10, the total number of Omicron cases detected in India went up to 32. Of these, while two cases were detected in Karnataka, 17 cases were in Maharashtra, nine in Rajasthan, three in Gujarat, and one in Delhi. The Health Ministry said on Friday that mainly mild symptoms have been seen in the cases of Omicron variant detected so far. Although Omicron is not posing a burden on the healthcare system yet, vigil has to be maintained, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said.
Amid fears over Omicron variant in the state, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai had said on Thursday, December 9, that the state government had no intention to implement night curfew. He said that the decision on imposing night curfew would be taken after a week.