Building where a COVID-19 patient has been found can be used after proper disinfection, says Health Ministry

Lav Aggarwal said that the only requirement is that the particular building or facility should be properly disinfected if it has to be used.

New Delhi: Union Health Ministry on Tuesday (April 28) clarified that any building premise will not be sealed just because a coronavirus COVID-19 patient has been found in it but a proper and mandatory disinfection process will be followed to ensure that the premises can be used again.

"If a COVID-19 patient is found in a non-COVID hospital or a health professional is infected there, then that facility can be used after proper disinfection. The same process will be applicable to all other locations where a COVID patient is found. The building or the locality will have to be disinfected using the proper procedure and then it can be used," Lav Aggarwal, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Health, told media during his daily briefing in New Delhi.

When asked if a building can be used even after a COVID-19 patient has been there, he referred to his earlier discussion in this regard. He asserted that the only requirement is that the particular building or facility should be properly disinfected if it has to be used. He further stated that the same process would be applicable at all the locations if any COVID patient is found.

Notably, the Health Ministry has already issued guidelines for home isolation of people who either have very mild COVID-19 symptoms or are in the pre-symptomatic phase. "Such patients with requisite self-isolation facility at their residence will now have the option for home isolation," it said.

"As per existing guidelines, during the containment phase, the patients should be clinically assigned as very mild/mild, moderate or severe and accordingly admitted to COVID Care Centre, Dedicated COVID Health Centre or Dedicated COVID Hospital, respectively. However, very mild/pre-symptomatic patients having the requisite facility at his/her residence for self-isolation will have the option for home isolation," the ministry stated.

According to the guidelines, the infected person should be clinically assigned as a very mild case/pre-symptomatic case by the medical officer and the patient should have the requisite facility at their residence for self-isolation and also for quarantining the family contacts.

The ministry also clarified that plasma therapy is still under testing, but there is no evidence that this can be used as a treatment. "Plasma therapy is not a proven therapy. It's still in the experimental stage, right now ICMR is doing it as an experiment to identify and make additional understanding of this therapy. Till it is approved no one should use it, it will be harmful to the patient and illegal," added Aggarwal.