Purpose of the guidance
This rapid advice is intended to guide public health and
infection prevention and control (IPC) professionals, health
facility managers, health workers a and other trained
community-based providers when addressing issues related
to home care for patients with suspected or confirmed
COVID-19, and thus refers to a patient with suspected or
confirmed COVID-19 throughout the document.
In many contexts, health services are delivered at community
level and in the home by community health workers,
traditional medicine practitioners, social care workers, or a
variety of formal and informal community-based providers,
including caregivers. For the purpose of this document,
“caregivers” refers to parents, spouses and other family
members or friends providing informal care as opposed to the
care provided by formal health-care providers (1).
It is therefore critical to ensure that caregivers have
appropriate training and guidance on how to care for patients
as well as how to minimize the risk of infection, including training on important hygiene procedures and
on recognizing
signs that the COVID-19 patient’s condition is worsening and
that he or she needs to be sent to a health facility.
In addition, health workers and caregivers providing support
in the home should be provided with the appropriate personal
protective equipment (PPE) for the tasks that they are
expected to perform and trained in PPE use and removal.
This guidance is based on the latest available evidence on the
clinical management of COVID-19, the feasibility of
implementing safe care at home, including IPC measures, the
capacity for communication between home-based caregivers
and community health providers, as well as home-based
patients’ access to health facilities. The appendix provides
implementation strategies for care in the home setting.