Written By: Longjam Dineshwori | Updated : July 24, 2020 5:19 PM IST
Among the study participants, one in 10 had contracted the disease from their own families.
People have been advised to stay home to avoid contracting the novel coronavirus, which is responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. But are you completely safe inside your house? In a new study, South Korean epidemiologists found that people were more likely to contract the virus from members of their own households than from contacts outside the home. The study was published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
For the study, the researchers examined the data of 5,706 index patients who had tested positive for the coronavirus and over 59,000 people who came into contact with them. They found that most of the patients had contracted the virus from their own families. As per their study results, just two out of 100 infected people had caught the virus from non-household contacts, while one in 10 had contracted the disease from their own families.
The infection rate within the household was found to be higher when the first confirmed cases were teenagers or people in their 60s and 70s. This may be because these age groups are more likely to be in close contact with family members as they need more support, explained Jeong Eun-kyeong, director of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) and one of the authors of the study.
Children aged nine and under were least likely to be the index patient. However, the researchers noted that since kids with COVID-19 are more likely to be asymptomatic than adults, it made it harder to identify index cases within that group.
Dr. Choe Young-june, a Hallym University College of Medicine assistant professor who co-led the work, asserted that children could be less likely to transmit the virus, but their data is not enough to confirm this hypothesis.
Data for the study was collected between Jan. 20 and March 27, when the novel coronavirus was spreading exponentially in South Korea.
How to isolate at home when you have COVID-19
As per the Health Ministry guidelines, very mild and pre-symptomatic Covid-19 cases are allowed home isolation, given they have requisite facility at his/her residence for self-isolation and also for quarantining the family contacts. In addition, the guidelines state that a caregiver should be available to provide care on a 24 x7 basis. The patient or caregiver will have to be in touch constantly with the District Surveillance Officer, and a hospital. The patient must also follow certain home quarantine guidelines to prevent spread of the virus to other family members. These include:
Guidelines for caregivers
The ministry guidelines say that caregivers should wear a triple layer medical mask when in the same room with the ill person and hand hygiene must be practiced properly. Caregivers should avoid direct contact with body fluids of the patient, particularly oral or respiratory secretions. They should use disposable gloves while handling the patient and wash hands properly before and after removing gloves. Caregivers are also advised to avoid exposure to potentially contaminated items in the patient's immediate environment such as utensils, dishes, drinks, used towels or bed linen.
With inputs from agencies
