COVID-19: Asymptomatic people in Pune to be home quarantined

Asymptomatic individuals testing

positive for coronavirus in Pune will now be kept in home quarantine instead of a facility, the city civic body said on Wednesday as it released a new set of isolation rules for suspected and positive patients.

The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has revised the quarantine and isolation rules for suspected and positive coronavirus patients on advice of the central government.

As per the new rules, if a person tests positive, but is asymptomatic (not showing signs of the disease), he or she will not be kept at an isolation facility.

Instead, the person can isolate himself or herself at home by giving an undertaking that he or she will not violate quarantine rules devised by authorities.

 

"We have received new guidelines that if there are asymptomatic positive patients, keep them at home. So from tomorrow (April 30), as per the revised protocols, we will bring fewer people to isolation facilities," said civic commissioner Shekhar Gaikwad.

Similarly, he said, suspected coronavirus patients, whose test reports are awaited, will also not be taken to any institutional quarantine centre.

Instead, they will be asked to quarantine themselves at home and take precautions, Gaikwad said.

"Only thing is that all these people (asymptomatic individuals) will have to give a certain undertaking that they are aware that they are positive and will take precautions and will not violate the rules and will stay isolated or quarantined," he added.

The civic chief said the central government issued the fresh guidelines after several states complained that their energy was being expended in handling lodging and logistical issues related to asymptomatic individuals and coronavirus suspects.

"Since there is no treatment and body immunity is the only solution, persons with no symptoms can be isolated at home," he added.