Health Minister Satyendar Jain while addressing a press conference in Delhi urged people to avoid panicking and said that the Omicron variant of Covid is less lethal and can be treated at home. He also asked the people to avail of hospital services only if they are exhibiting severe Covid symptoms.
Stressing on the mild nature of the newfound variant, the Health Minister said that even though the Omicron infection is spreading rapidly across the capital, it has not yet caused any death or the need for oxygen or ventilator support by any patient. Therefore, the virus he reiterated can be combatted by following covid appropriate behavior like wearing a mask at all times and maintaining social distance.
In his media brief, he assured that there are enough hospital beds and adequate medical infrastructure to treat the barrage of cases in the future however he maintained that people should only go to hospitals only if they are having difficulty in breathing or other severe symptoms.
“If the symptoms are minor, there is no need to go to the hospital. A Delhi government team will contact you, and you will be treated in your own home. Don’t worry, Omicron variant is a corona variant, and the protocol for its treatment and prevention is the same as before hence wear a mask and practice social distancing,” Jain was quoted saying.
Earlier the Delhi government had issued guidelines for those contracting the virus which had reduced the home isolation period from 14 to 7 days. Taking into account the rules laid down, the health minister said that one should rush to the hospital only if their SPO2 level PO2 level drops to less than 93 percent of the patients are having difficulty in breathing.
“The guidelines for home isolation have been revised. Patients in home isolation must stay at home for only 7 days after testing positive. If the person does not have any symptoms for three consecutive days and the symptoms are not visible, they can end their home isolation period. In such a case, there is no need for the individual to be tested again after completing home isolation but wearing a mask is mandatory, ” he added.
How to decide whether you need to visit the hospital or not?
Shedding light on this, the health minister said that only in scenarios where the person is exhibiting the following symptoms, should he or she consider rushing to the hospital
1. Difficulty in breathing
2. Fever of more than 100 Fahrenheit for more than 3 consecutive days
3. Decreased oxygen level, (SPO2 below 93% and shortness of breath or breathing rate greater than 24/min)
4. Persistent pain/pressure in the chest
5. Mental confusion or inability to excite
6. Persistent feeling of severe fatigue in the body
Delhi on Thursday reported 15,097 fresh Covid-19 cases and six deaths, as the positivity rate also shot up to 15.34 percent. With the latest addition, the cumulative caseload has gone up to 14,89,463 while the death toll rose to 25,127. The number of active cases in the capital now stands at 31,498. Almost 1 lakh tests were conducted in the last 24 hours. Delhi had on Wednesday reported 10,665 fresh Covid-19 cases and eight deaths with a positivity rate of 11.88 percent. With one more case of Omicron variant reported, the tally of such cases has risen to 465 in Delhi.
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