THRISSUR: India’s first novel coronavirus-confirmed patient in Thrissur has been on the path to recovery and her two consecutive swab tests have come back as negative. A decision on discharging the 23-year-old student from the isolation ward of Thrissur Medical College Hospital is likely to be taken on Thursday. She was not discharged earlier because one set of her swab samples had tested positive in between two negative results.
According to DMO K J Reena, “The meeting of the medical board consisting of expert doctors and district officers will be convened soon to decide on the release of the girl from the hospital.”
The swab samples of the 23-year-old girl which were sent on February 6 had come back as negative. However, the test result of the next set of samples had come back as positive which led to the delay in releasing the girl from isolation, sources said.
Two consecutive samples should be tested negative for confirming complete recovery from COVID-19. That is why the other two confirmed patients, one in Alappuzha and the other in Kasaragod, were discharged earlier.
The medical team here had sent the girl’s samples to the National Institute of Virology in Alappuzha also on February 8, 10, 12, 14 and 16, of which two consecutive samples tested negative. The medical board is likely to meet on Thursday to decide on discharging the girl.
Meanwhile, two more persons got discharged from General Hospital and Medical College Hospital here on Wednesday. As of now, only two persons are under observation in the hospital, and 174 people are still in house quarantine.
The medical student at Wuhan University had approached the health officials after symptoms showed up as she returned. She was first admitted to the isolation ward of Thrissur General Hospital on January 24 and the test results indicating the infection came on January 30. The girl was later shifted to the isolation ward of Thrissur Medical College Hospital.
Health Minister K K Shailaja visited the Medical College Hospital the same day and reviewed the preparations to contain the spread. Since the health condition of the girl was stable, the medical board was confident enough of her recovering soon from the infection that has claimed the lives of over 1,800 people in China alone. The health department coordinated all activities for backtracking the people who came into direct contact with the infected girl and keeping the high-risk people in house quarantine with daily communication on the health status of these people.
1,873 people have died across the globe so far due to novel coronavirus infection
On the case study
● The study will be conducted on the three persons who tested positive for COVID-19
● It gains significance as all the positive cases reported in the country are from Kerala
● As all the three positive cases are clinical in nature, the proposed study is likely to be carried out by clinicians rather than epidemiologists or staff of the Community Medicine department
● The study was proposed considering the chances of another outbreak in the future