Can I get discharged from home isolation without seeing a doctor?

There is a lot of confusion amongst people, particularly the ex-pat community, about what the protocol is if you test positive for Covid, come in close contact with someone positive, and how to get a ‘baja’ and ‘alta’ if you need to isolate at home and then are ready to go back to work or outside again.

The Ministry of Health of the Canary Islands has now implemented an automated system for temporary sick leave due to COVID-19, which means that if you are under 45 years old with mild symptoms, you can do all this remotely without having to see a doctor.

The aim of this new system is to free up the time of Primary Care doctors, who are currently overloaded due to the high number of cases registered in the last month, from the administrative burden in these moments of greater pressure, to assist people who need it more.

To enable this, the SCS created a support group made up of 45 doctors who centrally manage the discharge of mild or asymptomatic patients, who don’t require clinical follow-up, so they only have to contact the health system for this procedure, and an SMS is automatically sent to discharge them.

How does it work?
The Covid patient who needs to process the discharge must contact the 900 112 061 free phone number, where the health worker on the other end of the phone, will refer you to the central team or to your Primary Care doctor depending on your state of health, age, vaccination status, or if you have previous pathologies. In either case, you will receive a call from a doctor who will carry out the procedure without you having to travel anywhere.

If the Covid patient has mild symptoms, is young (under 45), and meets the criteria of the automated system, their request is referred to the doctors of the centralized team, and they will contact the patient, check their state of health, and generate the sick leave that is instantly communicated to the INSS online.

In addition, it automatically activates the discharge after seven days, as long as there are no complications. If your progress is favourable, you will automatically receive an SMS with the discharge report to your mobile phone number registered on your health card, without having to take another diagnostic test.

Patients who have symptoms that are not mild, or have not improved during this period, should call the 900 112 061 line, and the automated discharge management process will be interrupted to be seen by their family doctor.

Why is it for people under 45 years of age?
The age limit for the automated procedure is set at 45 years old, which is generally a sector of the population with a lower prevalence of chronic pathologies and risk factors, or a low clinical complexity, and that generally has asymptomatic or mild COVID-19.

This process is adapted to the latest recommendations issued by the Ministry of Health regarding the period of isolation, established in seven days if there are no symptoms from the fourth, and will be applicable to those patients with these profiles:
- People aged 45 or younger, with a positive test (PCR or PDAG), asymptomatic, vaccinated and without risk factors who cannot telecommute.

- People 45 years of age or younger, with a positive test, with mild symptoms (fever, dry cough, asthenia, myalgia, odynophagia, headache, rhinorrhea, anosmia, ageusia), vaccinated and without risk factors.

- Close contact patients, not fully vaccinated, and who have not had COVID-19 in the last 180 days, who require quarantine.

- Immuno-compromised close contact patients.

Health conditions that are considered to be ‘at risk’:
Arterial hypertension, diabetes mellitus, asthma, ischemic heart disease, nephropathy, COPD, immune-suppression due to intrinsic or extrinsic causes, obesity, active oncological process, pregnant women, other chronic diseases to be assessed by a physician.

Extension of sick leave:
In the event that the patient requires an extension of their isolation period, the program will allow the discharge to be cancelled, and it will remain open until the resolution of the clinical situation to be assessed by your doctor.

When will you require a medical evaluation for discharge?
Patients with more symptoms should be assessed at discharge, confirming the absence of symptoms to close the process.

There is a video that has been released by the Ministry of Health (in Spanish) that relates this information, which you can watch here:

Source: Gobierno de Canarias