If you have flu-like symptoms such as fever, it can either be Covid-19 or dengue and it is very unlikely to be any other illness. Take bed rest and paracetamol only, a physician of the National Hospital of Sri Lanka, Dr. Upul Dissanayake said.
He told the media at the Health Promotion Bureau (HPB) in Colombo yesterday that Covid-19 positive patients should be admitted to a hospital only if their oxygen percentage drops below 96 percent, suffer from breathing difficulty and other major complications.
According to Dr. Dissanayake, if one family member becomes positive, the rest of the family is considered to be positive no matter whether they have symptoms or not. No medications other than paracetamol should be taken for fever. Bed rest is a must. Bed rest reduces oxygen requirement.
Dr. Dissanayake said that Covid-19 positive patients who are at home should rest in bed, drink 2,500 millilitres of liquid per day and measure the oxygen percentage using a Pulse Oximeter.
Positive mothers should take bed rest without attending to household chores.
The patient should measure his or her oxygen level and then sit and stand up six to eight times continuously and then measure the oxygen level again using a Pulse Oximeter.
If the percentage drops by two, he or she should get admitted to a hospital.
For example, if the patient’s oxygen level is 98 before starting the sitting and standing exercise and if it becomes 96 after completing eight rounds of the exercise, he or she should be admitted to a hospital, he said.
Dr. Dissanayake said that no Covid-19 positive patient should try to use any other method to check the oxygen level or the ability to breathe, especially the methods mentioned in social media or on the internet.
They should not climb staircases to check themselves.