21.04.2022

NEW RULES FOR COVID-19 PATIENTS IN OUR COUNTRY ARE PROPOSED

New rules to be applied in our country for people with COVID-19 are provided by the draft Ordinance on the terms and conditions for conducting diagnostics, prevention and control of COVID-19, uploaded for public discussion here.

They envisage the introduction of mandatory isolation of infectious agents and patients with COVID-19 in their designated places of residence for a certain period of time, consistent with the period of contagion and determined by order of the Minister of Health at the suggestion of the Chief State Health Inspector. In order to limit the transmission of SARS-CoV-2, it is necessary to apply a different approach to persons identified as COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2 carriers and their contact persons.

It is proposed that any person diagnosed as positive for SARS-CoV-2 be placed under mandatory isolation with a prescription issued by the Director or by a Deputy Director of the Regional Health Inspectorate authorized by him. The requirements and measures that the person should comply with in terms of reducing contact with other persons in the household, compliance with physical distance, hand hygiene, wearing a protective face mask, ventilation to reduce the risk of infection by reducing the likelihood of transmission of the causative agent.

Medical supervision during the obligatory isolation is planned to be performed by a general practitioner or another doctor. In case of necessity of examinations or examinations, appointed by the doctor performing medical supervision, the person under mandatory isolation should notify by phone or e-mail the relevant regional health inspectorate to leave the place of isolation, indicating the time period and the medical institution where perform the examination or research.

Mandatory isolation has been established in a hospital facility after an assessment of the existing epidemic risk of the spread of COVID-19, taking into account the severity of the clinical course of the disease, the age of the person and the presence of concomitant chronic diseases, immunosuppressive conditions and treatments and others, which are the main prerequisites for severe course, complications and death, as well as the social and living conditions in which the person lives and the ability of the person to isolate himself at home, without compromising the need for temporary isolation.

During the epidemic rise in the incidence of COVID-19, the burden on the health system is significant, and access to hospital treatment is difficult in some cases. Therefore, the draft ordinance specifies certain medical and social criteria under which a person positive for COVID-19 can be discharged from a medical institution before full clinical recovery. In such cases, the person continues his isolation at home until the quarantine expires.

A definition of close contact has been introduced to accurately identify individuals at risk of infection after exposure to a COVID-19 case. Persons identified as a confirmed case of COVID-19 who have been ill for up to three months from contact with a person newly infected with SARS-CoV-2 are not subject to quarantine.

Persons who have entered the territory of the country from another country with an epidemic risk of spreading COVID-19 may also be subject to mandatory quarantine. The aim is thus to protect public health from additional imports and the subsequent spread of SARS-CoV-2, including limiting the spread of new variants. With a low or declining incidence of COVID-19 in the country, the quarantine of persons arriving from countries with an epidemic rise or high levels of infection will prevent the emergence of new outbreaks and possible explosions in the country.

The draft ordinance stipulates that the medical supervision of these persons is carried out by their general practitioner or by another doctor, and when they do not have one by the relevant regional health inspectorate. As in the event of clinical symptoms consistent with COVID-19, the person is subject to examination, isolation and treatment.

The draft ordinance states that when registering a case of COVID-19 in an organized labor or children's/student team, an epidemiological study is conducted by the relevant regional health inspectorate and prescribe measures aimed at identifying the sources of infection and their isolation, the susceptible population and its quarantine, as well as the environment (disinfection). It is admitted that in the course of the epidemiological study the regional health inspectorate may order additional hygienic and anti-epidemic measures, in accordance with the development of the epidemic process.