Ministry of health releases revised guidelines for Covid patient management

New Delhi: The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s COVID-19 National Task Force issued revised clinical guidelines for the management of adult COVID-19 patients on Sunday.

According to the ICMR, antibiotics should not be used unless there is a clinical suspicion of bacterial infection. The possibility of coinfection of COVID-19 with other endemic infections must be considered. Administration of systemic and corticosteroid during mild disease is not recommended.

As per the revised guidelines, the use of drugs, like lopinavir-ritonavir, hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), ivermectin, Molnupiravir, Favipiravir, Azithromycin and Doxycycline, is no longer advised.

People are advised to maintain “physical distancing, indoor mask use, hand hygiene, symptomatic management (hydration, anti-pyretics, antitussive), monitor temperature and oxygen saturation (by applying a SpO probe to fingers) Stay in contact with treating physician,” according to revised guidelines.

The guidelines advise people to seek immediate medical attention if difficulty in breathing, high-grade fever/ severe cough, particularly if lasting for more than 5 days. A low threshold is to be kept for those with any of the high-risk features, it said.

Additionally, in moderate or severe diseases at high risk of progression, the guidelines recommend, “Consider Remdesivir for up to 5 days (200 mg IV on day 1 followed by 100 mg IV OD for the next 4 days)”.

COVID-19 National Task Force under Ministry of Health and Family Welfare releases revised clinical guidance for the management of adult COVID-19 patients pic.twitter.com/HvaLtE7nTh

— ANI (@ANI) March 19, 2023

According to the updated data, in a single day, India records over 800 new COVID cases, while the active number of cases increased to 5,915.

On Saturday, there was a significant jump in single-day COVID cases as 843 fresh infections were reported, the highest after 126 days. Jharkhand and Maharashtra reported one death each, two were reconciled by Kerala.

The active cases now comprise 0.01 percent of the total cases, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has been recorded at 98.8 percent.