The Rajasthan government has decided to allow the family members of COVID-19 patients undergoing treatment at health facilities to meet them wearing PPE kits and maintaining other safety protocols.

This was reportedly announced by the State Health Minister Raghu Sharma on Friday.

An Indian Express report quoted the Health Department Principal Secretary Akhil Arora as saying that the decision was taken "looking at the loneliness of corona-infected patients and the stress caused because of it".

As per the order issued by the Health department, such family members can now meet the patients after donning PPE kits, masks and gloves. They also need to maintain social distancing. Moreover, they can only pay such visits within the time-window stipulated by the hospital authorities.

Such a decision was reportedly also taken in order to let the patients have home-cooked food. The report quoted Sharma as saying, "There are people who just eat home-made food. We consulted doctors and experts and took this decision."

So far, kins could reach out to the patients only through voice and video calls. Physical contact was not allowed.