"Given the current national epidemiological situation of Covid-19 and in accordance with the recommendations of the technical and scientific advisory committee for influenza prevention and control, the health care protocol for the cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection has been updated," said the ministry in a circular to directors of university hospital centers.

The objective of this update is, on the one hand, to reduce the time of providing medical care by starting treatment as quickly as possible and, on the other hand, to improve the conditions of heath care, explained the ministry, noting that the revised protocol includes in particular an update of the definitions of cases of SARS-CoV-2 and Covid-19 infection and the health care protocol.

According to this new protocol, a suspected case is any person presenting signs of severe respiratory infection (cough, sore throat, breathing difficulty ...) with or without fever, or unexplained fever more than or equal to 38° C by another obvious etiology, accompanied by myalgia or headache, or a severe acute respiratory infection requiring hospitalization.

For probable cases, the ministry specified that they are any suspected case with one of the following three criteria, namely an evocative epidemiological context, CT images very suggestive of Covid-19 or any person presenting suddenly and without obvious etiology one of the two clinical signs strongly in favor of a SARS-CoV-2 infection, namely the loss of smell or taste.

It is also considered "possible case", any death without an obvious cause, occurring after a respiratory distress syndrome and having been in contact with a probable or confirmed case or having an epidemiological link with a cluster, said the ministry.

The circular also noted that a confirmed case is any person in whom an infection with SARS-CoV-2 has been confirmed by a molecular diagnostic technique (RT-PCR or other similar technique).

Regarding the basic principle for treatment, the ministry indicated that, for all cases requiring therapeutic health care, the treatment should be prescribed according to the recommended protocol, adding that the treatment should be started as quickly as possible, without virological confirmation for probable cases and before receipt of the PCR result for contacts with co-morbidities.

According to this protocol, waiting for the result of RT-PCR to start treatment only increases the risk of complications and the probability of death, and prolongs the time of the spread of the virus.

Regarding the therapeutic protocol, the Ministry noted that a pre-therapeutic report, including an ECG, must be done beforehand to eliminate any contraindication to treatment.

Asymptomatic cases are put on first-line treatment for a period of 7 days, with isolation for a total of 14 days, said the same source. As for symptomatic cases, they are put on first-line treatment for a period of 10 days, with isolation for a total of 14 days. The duration of treatment may be extended by 5 days, before considering second-line treatment.

For the health care methods, the protocol indicated that asymptomatic or mild symptomatic cases, without any risk factor, are kept at home, noting that regular monitoring of the state of health must be ensured by the local health center in order to detect any signs of worsening or adverse effects of the treatment at an early stage.

In addition, asymptomatic or mild symptomatic cases with one or more risk factors, moderate, severe or critical cases and mild cases initially treated at home and not showing any improvement during the 10 days of treatment are provided with medical care in a hospital.

Regarding the recovery criteria, the protocol noted that for an asymptomatic case, recovery can only be confirmed at the end of the 07 days of treatment, without the appearance of any symptom suggestive of the disease. For a symptomatic case, recovery is declared at the end of the 10-day treatment period, with the absence of any clinical sign and apyrexia for 3 consecutive days.