Amidst surge in Covid-19 cases, private hospitals in West Bengal have sought the state government to consider reducing the duration of quarantine by bringing it down to 5-7 days from the current 14 days for hospital staff, particularly doctors and nurses in order to ensure availability of adequate manpower in hospitals.
While speaking to the Hindu BusinessLine, Dr Alok Roy, Chair, FICCI Health Services Committee and Chairman, Medica Group of Hospitals, said that while hospitals are well-equipped with respect to the medical infrastructure, the rise in cases could result in a shortage of manpower.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had recently recommended shortening the isolation and quarantine period for general public. It suggested that people with Covid-19 should isolate for five days, and if they were asymptomatic or their symptoms were resolving (without fever for 24 hours), follow that by five days of wearing a mask when around others to minimise the risk of infecting people they encounter.
“Given what we currently know about Covid-19 and Omicron, CDC is shortening the recommended time for isolation for the public. The change is motivated by science demonstrating that SARS-CoV-2 transmission mostly occurs early in the course of illness, generally in the 1-2 days prior to the onset of symptoms, and the 2-3 days after,” CDC had said in an official statement.
Officials have stated that the CDC recommendation was highlighted with health department officials and hospitals urged a favourable consideration so as to manage the issue of manpower as long isolation periods could lead to insufficient health personnel, including doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers at hospitals.