PREPAREDNESS, PREVENTION AND CONTROL OF COVID-19 IN PRISONS AND OTHER PLACES OF DETENTION 28 14.2 Additional precautions Patients should be placed in adequately ventilated space. If more suspected cases are detected and if individual spaces are not available, patients suspected of being infected with COVID-19 should be grouped together. However, all patients’ beds should be placed at least 1 metre apart whether or not they are suspected of having COVID-19 infection. A team of health-care workers and custodial/detention staff should be designated to care exclusively for suspected or confirmed cases to reduce the risk of transmission. 14.3 How to undertake environmental cleaning following a suspected case in a place of detention Once a suspected case of COVID-19 has been transferred out of the prison or other place of detention to a hospital facility, the room where the patient was placed and the room where the patient was residing should not be used until appropriately decontaminated; the doors should remain shut, with windows open and any air conditioning switched off, until the rooms have been cleaned with detergent and disinfectant that is virucidal and approved for use in the prison setting. Detailed information on cleaning and disinfection is provided on the WHO website 46 and in Annex 1. Once the cleaning process has been completed, the room can be put back in use immediately. Medical devices and equipment, laundry, food service utensils and medical waste should be managed in accordance with the medical waste policy at the facility. A disease commodity package for COVID-19 outlines the supplies needed for surveillance, laboratory analysis, clinical management and IPC.47 14.4 Discharge of people from prisons and other places of detention If a person who has served their sentence is an active COVID-19 case at the time of their release, or is the contact of a COVID-19 case and still within their 14-day quarantine period, the prison health authorities should ensure that the person discharged has a place to go where they can maintain quarantine, that the local authority is notified that the person has been discharged, and thus that follow-up is transferred from the prison authorities to the local authorities. If a discharged individual is transferred to a hospital or other medical facility after their prison term is over, but they are still under quarantine/medical care for their COVID-19 infection, the receiving facility should be notified of the person’s COVID-19 status (confirmed or suspected) so that it is ready to provide proper isolation. 46 Home care for patients with suspected novel coronavirus (nCoV) infection presenting with mild symptoms and management of contacts: interim guidance (4 February 2020). Geneva: World Health Organization; 2020 (https://www.who.int/publications-detail/home-care-for-patients-with-suspected-novel-coronavirus-(ncov)-infection-presentingwith-mild-symptoms-and-management-of-contacts). 47 Disease commodity package: novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Geneva: World Health Organization; 2020 (https://www.who.int/emergencies/what-we-do/prevention-readiness/disease-commodity-packages/dcp-ncov.pdf).