Home care for patients with COVID-19 presenting with mild symptoms and management of their contacts: interim guidance, 17 March 2020

WHO has developed this interim guidance to meet the need for recommendations on safe home care for patients with suspected COVID-19 who present with mild symptoms a and on public health measures related to the management of their contacts.

This document was adapted from the interim guidance on Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection that was published in June 20181 and is informed by evidence-based guidelines published by WHO, including Infection prevention and control of epidemic- and pandemicprone acute respiratory diseases in health care, 2 and based on current information on COVID-19.

This rapid advice has been updated with the latest information and is intended to guide public health and infection prevention and control (IPC) professionals, health care managers and health care workers (HCWs) when addressing issues related to home care for patients with suspected COVID-19 who present with mild symptoms and when managing their contacts. This guidance is based on evidence about COVID-19 and the feasibility of implementing IPC measures at home. For the purpose of this document, “caregivers” refers to parents, spouses, and other family members or friends without formal health care training.