Home Management, Critical Care and Discharge Criteria for COVID-19 Patients

Overview

The continued increase in reported cases of COVID-19 on the African continent threatens to overwhelm our already weak health infrastructure. Therefore, it is important for Member States to take serious and urgent measures towards case management to significantly reduce COVID-19 deaths.
In view of the infrastructural and resource gaps, technology should be considered for remote management of patients during this period within the healthcare delivery system.
As it is abundantly clear, even countries with more advanced healthcare infrastructure and resources have struggled to treat COVID-19 and nonCOVID-19 patients during this pandemic. The mild to moderate COVID-19 cases and selected nonCOVID-19 cases will benefit from telemedicine consultations.
The current evidence on the clinical charactersitics of COVID-19 indicates that the majority of patients (80%) will develop mild to moderate symptoms and will not require hospital admission. They can from the virus at home following risk assessments by health and social services to exclude factors that may render home care inappropriate or refer to national policy on management of mild cases. A significant number of patients with Covid-19 can be asymptomatic despite positive testing. This group of patients must take major protection steps to prevent the spread of the virus within their households and the community.