5 criteria set for hospitalising Covid-19 patients in Bangkok

In Bangkok, officials are attempting to take some of the guesswork out of dealing with Covid-19 infected patients while also streamlining the process when someone tests positive for the virus. New guidelines were set forth to assess the level of symptoms and infection and route people either to a hospital or other medical facility or refer them to home isolation. The plan comes as Covid-19 surges in the capital and authorities set up a new testing centre to handing the swell in infections.

The guidelines were approved today by the Subcommittee for Resolving the Covid-19 Situation in Bangkok in the hopes that this would allow those who are infected with Covid-19 to be moved to an appropriate location and treated for their symptoms immediately.

The new guidelines established 5 criteria and if a patient meets one or more, they will be admitted to a Bangkok hospital for Covid-19 treatment. Someone who doesn’t meet these parameters would be considered to have mild symptoms, or perhaps be asymptomatic, and would be referred to home isolation where medicine will be delivered by health personnel within 24 hours rather than being relegated to a field hospital or other potentially unpleasant arrangement.

On the other hand, anyone who meets one or more of these 5 criteria after testing positive for Covid-19 in Bangkok should be moved into an appropriate medical facility within no longer than 12 hours from diagnosis. The 5 criteria are as follows:

1. Anyone with a fever that stays above 39 degrees Celsius for more than 24 hours.
2. Anyone with less than a 94% oxygen saturation value.
3. Any adult who is inhaling faster than 25 breathes per minute.
4. Anyone Covid-19 positive in Bangkok who fits into the now-standard definition of high risk:
   1. Those who are over 60 years old.
   2. Women who are 12 weeks or more pregnant.
   3. Those who have one of the 7 underlying diseases flagged as high risk.
5. Children who have difficulty breathing or experience rapid breathing, loss of appetite, drowsiness, as well as a fever over 39 degrees Celsius and an oxygen saturation value under 94%.

SOURCE: Nation Thailand