Opinions & Interviews

Self-isolation described as outpatient treatment in Belarus

MINSK, 13 April (BelTA) – Coronavirus outpatient treatment and its duration were discussed at a government conference chaired by Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko on 13 April, BelTA has learned.

“We have been talking about self-isolation lately... Frankly, this is not self-isolation. This is actually outpatient treatment. After all, people self-isolate on the instruction of a doctor. I gave an instruction to work out appropriate regulations,” the head of state said.

According to him, earlier doctors hospitalized hundreds of people, including first- and second-level contacts. Now doctors realize that this is not always necessary. This is especially true for long periods of hospitalization. “We see that the person feels normal. The patient has been in hospital for three to five days. The doctor understands (already from experience) that it is not necessary to keep him or her there but wants to be on the safe side. We give him or her a document where the doctor proscribes self-isolation for three, five, seven days (in fact, it is an outpatient treatment). Such patients are under control. If needed the doctor visits them. The police check if such patients remain home during their self isolation period,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

The president asked doctors not to send such patients into lengthy self isolation. “Some doctors quarantine people for up to 14 days. Those people will not stay at home for 14 days. Such patients have almost fully recovered. Send them into self isolation for the period they need. If it is 14 days, such patients need to remain in hospital. We discharge from hospital only those who are on a track of recovery, those who show no symptoms and can complete their treatment at home,” the president said.

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