The federal government has begun a review of case management guidelines for COVID-19 to redefine criteria for admission of patients and discharge, after a new study found that the virus is viable for about 10 days.
Chikwe Ihekweazu, Director General, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), who made this known on Wednesday during the briefing of the PTF on COVID-19, said a successful review of the guidelines will solve some challenges in managing patients, particularly shortage of bed space and ensure smooth inflow and outflow of patients.
The DG disclosed that some patients couldn’t be discharged because there was previously no certainty on the viability of the virus untill the new study which found that the longest viability period of the virus is about 10 days maximum.
Ihekweazu explained that the centre uses the real time Polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which could detect fragment of the virus after 10-20 days, but said the new study showed that the detection of fragment of the virus over time doesn’t mean that there is an active virus.
“So, we are now relooking our practice in terms of discharge criteria, and even who to keep in hospital, and who can stay at home and for how long .
“Right now, the entire case management team which includes our colleagues at the federal ministry of health, NCDC and few clinicians are reviewing our case management guidelines to redefine our approach around admission in terms of who is admitted and duration of admission and when to discharge,” he said.
Ihekweazu said the the World Health Organisation (WHO) hs already released new guidelines based on the findings from the new study.
“We are going release these new guidelines as soon as we achieve consensus on some of these major issues and then continue to learn.
“If we are able to do this successfully, it will have good implications on the duration of time people spend in hospital and when they can be discharged. That will enable us bring in people more frequently, it will ease up some of the bed space and help us in some of the practical challenges we have,” the DG said.
