A Covid-19 positive woman admitted to the Bharati Vidyapeeth hospital on March 16 has tested negative, twice, for the virus, hospital doctors said on Tuesday.
She had been on ventilator support since March 16.
Dr Sanjay Lalwani, medical director, at Bharati Vidyapeth, said, “This is a case wherein a patient who is on the ventilator has recovered from Covid-19. It gives us more reason to follow the lockdown and flatten the curve of the spread.”
The woman has no foreign travel history and so was suspected to be the first case of community transmission in the city.
A central team also visited the hospital to determine the source of transmission.
The woman, who lives at Sinhgad road, was initially thought to have swine flu, but when her samples were sent to NIV, the institute confirmed Covid-19.
Dr Lalwani said, “We sent her swab samples on Monday after she completed her incubation period and then we got her first test results negative. Her second swab samples were sent on Tuesday morning and that too tested negative. Right now, we can say that she has been cured of Covid19.”
According to the current ICMR guidelines, any patient who tests negative for two swab samples taken at a 24-hour interval after the incubation period of 14 days can be said to have recovered from Covid-19.
{{/usCountry}}According to the current ICMR guidelines, any patient who tests negative for two swab samples taken at a 24-hour interval after the incubation period of 14 days can be said to have recovered from Covid-19.
{{/usCountry}}Dr Lalwnai further said, “She still has slight breathlessness, which is just the recovery phase. Her fever has gone down. If her recovery continues this way, she should be discharged in a week’s time.”
The woman attended a wedding at Navi Mumbai earlier this month and used public transport to go to an Aangandwadi at Panshet in Pune, where she works as a sevika.
Currently five persons infected through the woman are admitted to PMC’s Naidu hospital. The driver who drove the woman from Navi Mumbai to Pune is also quarantined.