Covid-19 patients who have mild symptoms or are pre-symptomatic can stay in home isolation and need not be admitted to hospital, chief secretary Rajiva Sinha said on Tuesday.

The announcement comes a day after the state government said primary and secondary contacts of Covid-19 positive persons can remain isolated at home if they have the wherewithal.

“Covid-19 patients can stay at home if there is enough scope to remain isolated at home and if the patient’s condition is mild or pre-symptomatic,” Sinha said on Tuesday.

Only one caregiver should serve food to the patient or take care of other needs, doctors said. The caregiver must take adequate precautions.

The chief secretary went on to add that the state government has always believed there was no need to admit every positive patient to hospital but was wary of creating an impression that the state was becoming slack in the fight against the novel coronavirus.

“There was confusion yesterday (Monday) whether Covid-19 positive patients can be kept in home isolation. To be on the safe side, we issued a circular last evening and said anyone who tests positive has to be admitted to a hospital,” Sinha said.

“But we always believed every Covid-19 patient does not need hospital admission. We issued the circular to stop a wrong impression from spreading that we are becoming lax or we do not have space in hospitals. Then, late in the evening, the Union health ministry said mild or pre-symptomatic cases can be quarantined at home,” he clarified.

Officials in the health department said the decision to allow mild and pre-symptomatic patients to stay at home was taken in anticipation of a situation where more serious patients in need of hospital admission are being denied treatment.

“As on 28 April, there are nearly 390 vacant beds available in Govt. hospitals / Govt.-requisitioned hospitals for COVID treatment in Kolkata including CNCI, New Town; MR Bangur Hospital; ID Hospital, Beleghata; AMRI annexe, Salt Lake,” the health department tweeted on Tuesday.

The Union health ministry on Monday released a set of guidelines for home isolation of infected people with “very mild or no symptoms”, a practice widely adopted in other countries. The state health department attached the guidelines issued by the Union ministry to its circular.

The helpline numbers of the state health department are 033-23571075/1083/3636 and 1800313444222 and that of the Centre is 1075.