COVID-19 patients to discharge earlier under new protocol
Residents receive nucleic acid testing in local risk areas.
The length of hospital stays and quarantine for COVID-19 patients will be significantly reduced under China's updated COVID-19 treatment protocol, which will help relieve the pressure on medical resources, Shanghai's top coronavirus expert said on Thursday.
The average length of stay at local hospitals for COVID-19 patients is expected to decrease from 15 days to 10, according to the new protocol, said Dr Zhang Wenhong, head of Shanghai's COVID-19 treatment team and director of the National Center for Infectious Diseases.
The quarantine period after recovery will also be halved to seven days at home rather than two weeks of quarantine and medical observation as previously required.
The 9th edition of the "Diagnosis and Treatment Protocol for Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia" was released on Tuesday.
"It is China's most scientific and best COVID-19 diagnosis and treatment protocol so far," Zhang told a press briefing on Thursday.
As a major adjustment, the new directive defines negative as CT, or cycle threshold, values of nucleic acid testing to below 35 from 40.
Studies found when a CT reading reaches 30, the virus' infectiousness has been reduced to a relatively low level, Zhang said. "Previously, a patient might have to stay in a hospital for several months before the CT level reached 40, which is meaningless."
Zhang Wenhong, head of Shanghai's COVID-19 treatment team and director of the National Center for Infectious Diseases.
With the new CT standard, COVID-19 patients spend only a week or 10 days at a hospital on average. After recovery, they can return to their homes for a weeklong home quarantine rather than another two weeks of central quarantine at a designated hotel.
"Few recovered patients tested positive again after the weeklong home quarantine. Even if that happens, the nucleic acid level would be quite low and the virus unable to transmit," Zhang said.
Meanwhile, the protocol stipulates that confirmed COVID-19 cases with mild symptoms will be put under central quarantine at designated sites rather than at designated hospitals.
He noted that patients with the dominant Omicron variant are usually asymptomatic or have mild symptoms and rarely require clinical treatment, only medical observation.
A central quarantine site with basic medical equipment can complete the quarantine and observation process for patients with mild symptoms, Zhang said.
"Very few patients with mild symptoms later develop into severe conditions," he said. In the future, designated quarantine sites for such people will be equipped with professional medical resources, mainly for the elderly and those with underlying diseases. Patients whose conditions worsen will be sent to a designated hospital.
Quarantine sites for those with mild symptoms can be medical organizations or normal quarantine sites such as makeshift hospitals or quarantine hotels.
Such measures will save substantial medical resources at designated hospitals, such as the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center, to focus on patients with severe and complicated symptoms.
