MYSURU: Even as Mysuru has successfully beaten down a Covid-19 spike, bringing down active cases to just four against the 90 reported, two active cases at its designated hospital have baffled the authorities.
The district has been seeing a steady stream of discharges with 47 patients being cured in the last 13 days, registering a high recovery rate with zero mortality over the entire span. It is now preparing to accommodate suspected cases crossing the border.
But two patients admitted at Mysuru’s Covid hospital have put the authorities in a spot. Of them, a 48-year-old woman, who was admitted 30 days ago and is clinically fine, has been testing positive repeatedly. She is now stressed as other patients, including her husband and relatives who were admitted after testing positive, have been discharged long ago. She is now the only woman patient at the hospital. Similarly, a 46-year-old man, who was part of the Tablighi Jamaat cluster, is also testing positive despite being clinically fine. These two patients are now being given medicines for boosting immunity through zinc and vitamin C supplements and tranquilising medicines to ease their mental stress.
Though ICMR guidelines recommend discharge of such patients and shifting them to home quarantine for seven days followed by yet another test, it is yet to be adopted by the health department. But a new set of guidelines from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) seems promising since it calls for early discharge of cases clinically classified as mild, very mild and moderate within 10 days.
An epidemiologist, requesting anonymity, said that the issue should be debated before being implemented. Non-peer reviewed reports point out that the presence of dead particles of SARS-CoV-2 virus too can return RT-PCR tests positive. But such analyses are not conclusive and such rare cases have been reported earlier too, the expert added. Mysuru district has now just four active cases after the discharge of one more patient from the TJ cluster. According to officials, the district has 215 people in facility quarantine who are interstate travellers.