Second Covid-19 test for Dimapur man returns negative; third test result awaited

Our Reporter
Dimapur, April 18 (EMN): In a surprising turn of events, result for the second sample test of the Dimapur resident, who was initially declared Covid-19 positive at Gauhati Medical College and Hospital in Assam, has returned negative.  

This was informed to Eastern Mirror on Saturday night by a close family source.

“The second test results have turned out negative and even the results of all family members are negative,” informed the source.

Considering that all family members have tested negative, the source wondered ‘why there is still a hush-up over the second test results’.

“Right now we are just happy that all results are negative,” said the source.

The source revealed that the patient suffers from tuberculosis and his condition had become very severe.

“Thankfully, the District Hospital in Dimapur did the right thing by referring him to GMCH,” said the source and added that it could have been fatal otherwise.

The deputy commissioner (DC) of Dimapur, Anoop Khinchi also spoke to this newspaper but he neither confirmed nor denied the second test results being negative.

“The third test results are awaited and that will confirm everything,” said the DC.

Khinchi further said that the first report, which had declared the patient Covid-19 positive, is with the chief medical officer of Dimapur.

In its guidelines, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, under the policy for storage and destruction of samples of Covid-19 patient, has stated that all positive samples will need to be transported to ICMR-NIV, Pune under suitable biosafety and biosecurity precautions as laid down by the ICMR.

‘The negative samples will be destroyed within one week of collection. No samples should be shared with any other organisation for any purpose,’ it had instructed.

392 samples sent so far

Sixty-one more samples were sent for testing from Nagaland on Saturday for suspected Covid-19 infection, according to an official update.

The total samples sent so far from the state, as of 6 pm on Saturday, was 392. 

According to Home Commissioner Abhijit Sinha, 292 samples have tested negative while results for the remaining 100 are awaited.

“As informed earlier, the department of Health and Family Welfare in collaboration with All Nagaland Counsellors Association is providing professional counselling services to any person feeling anxious because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Any such person may send a WhatsApp message to 7005251298 for availing counselling services,” he informed.

Sinha further appealed to the citizens of the state to abide by all the directives of the district administration and police, concerning the lockdown.