THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The record number of Covid-19 recoveries on Thursday is not necessarily a result of the revision of discharge protocol of Covid-19 patients, according to the health department. On Wednesday the government had announced the revision which allows discharge of patients if they test negative for once. Until then, two negative results for consecutive days were required.
On Thursday, 202 people were announced to have recovered from the disease while it was 132 on the previous day. “We did not verify whether it was because of the revision. It would be more of a spontaneous effect as asymptomatic patients do not require long hospitalisation,” said Dr Amar Fettle, state nodal officer for Covid-19.
Dr Rajendra Pilankatta, head of the department of biochemistry, Central University of Kerala, too opined that the sudden increase would be a chain reaction.“The number of patients jumped to new highs with the inflow of Non-Resident Keralites.
Hence a sudden increase in discharges is natural. Most of our patients are asymptomatic. Also, the fatality rate is only 0.3 pc as against the national average of 3.3 pc,” Dr RajendraPilankatta said.