Background
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has revised the guidelines for the clinical treatment of ‘Mild’, ‘Moderate’ and ‘Severe’ Covid-19 patients.
The guidelines are issued by AIIMS, ICMR – Covid-19 National Task Force, and Joint Monitoring Group (DGHS) under Union Health Ministry for management of adult Covid-19 patients.
The guidelines aim to provide evidence-based recommendations for effective management of Covid-19 cases.
Key Changes
The latest guidelines do not include the use of Antivirals like Molnupiravir and monoclonal antibodies in patients to treat the COVID-19 infection1.
Medicines like ivermectin, favipiravir, and Doxycycline are also not recommended in the guidelines1.
Antibiotics, and vitamins also don’t have any place in India’s latest Covid management guidelines1.
Recommendations for Different Categories of Patients
Mild Disease
Patients with upper respiratory tract symptoms or fever without shortness of breath come under the ‘mild’ category of the infection1.
For such patients, the guidelines recommend home isolation1.
These patients must follow physical distancing from others, use a mask even in indoor settings, and monitor temperature and oxygen saturation regularity.
If patients with mild infection face difficulty in breathing or the SpO2 goes below 93 percent, high-grade fever, severe cough, particularly lasting for more than five days, they should seek medical help.
Inhalational Budesonide (given via Metered dos inhaler/ dry powder inhaler) at a dose of 800 mcg BD for 5 days) to be given if symptoms (fever or cough) are persistent beyond five days of disease onset.
Moderate Disease
If the respiratory rate of the patient is less than or equal to 24 per minute and they are breathlessness, and their SpO2 is between 90% to 93%, these patients fall under the moderate category of the disease1.
