As Indians stranded abroad start returning to India, the Centre on Friday allowed conversion of hotels, service apartments, guest houses and lodges across the country into paid quarantine/isolation facilities with mandatory medical amenities, including wi-fi for such evacuees.
“There are a large number of facilities such as hotels, service apartments, lodges which remain unoccupied due to impact of Covid-19 on travel and tourism.
“There are also instances where people who don’t have requisite space at home may opt for such facilities. This is likely to reduce the pressure on the family, give comfort to the person, and protect the family members and immediate neighbourhood,” said the guidelines issued by the Union Health Ministry on Friday.
It said that the owners of these facilities can host patients who do not have requisite facilities at home or want to avoid homes to ensure that their family members do not get infected with the virus.
However, the tariff for the accommodation and services will be fixed in consultation with the State Governments/ UTs, say the guidelines.
Though the move is also expected to boost revenue scope to the battered hotel industry amid Covid-scare, it comes with lots of responsibilities on the owners of such facilities. It will be their responsibility to provide doctor, fresh foods and nurses, and trained staff as per medical requirements, said an official from the Ministry.
As per the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) the quarantine and isolation facility will not co-exist and the facility owner will have a choice to offer the facility for either of the two.
All the evacuees will have to serve 14 days quarantine/isolation period before they can go and join their family members.
The occupant at the hotel facility shall only be kept in an isolation facility, if the cases are clinically assessed to be pre-symptomatic or very mild.
Such facility that opts for isolation will have separate earmarked areas for keeping suspect cases and confirmed cases and will ensure no inter-mingling of these two categories, as per the guidelines.
The contact/patient opting for such quarantine/isolation facility will have to give an undertaking promising such as downloading of Arogya Setu, the Government app to keep a track on his/her health status.
Also, owner will have to ensure that the quarantined/isolated persons are not allowed to meet visitors though they can talk on phone, said the official pointing out the need for implementing social distancing norms.
The facility owner will give an undertaking to follow the above SOP and to have adequate manpower including the above mentioned health workers as per the prescribed protocol.
