67 samples test Covid-19 positive in 2 days at Madhubani station, retest ordered

Madhubani district authorities have reasons to believe that these could be false Covid-19 positive results since three of these passengers tested negative during a re-test with RAD kits at their village

Administration of Bihar’s Madhubani district sent 67 swab samples for confirmatory real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests on Monday. These samples had tested Covid-19 positive in the rapid antigen detection (RAD) tests, conducted among passengers at the Madhubani railway station, which alarmed district health officials.

All the 67 Covid-19 suspects have been put under home isolation till the results from RT-PCR tests are received. (PTI Photo/Representative)

As many as 35 passengers from the Swatantrata Senani Express from New Delhi tested positive in RAD tests for Covid-19 on Monday and 32 others from Mumbai tested positive on Sunday, triggering concern.

The district authorities, however, have reasons to believe that these could be false positive results since three of these passengers tested negative during a re-test with RAD kits at their village, said officials.

“The sudden rise in cases, the asymptomatic nature of patients, epidemiological references that false positive cases go up when the prevalence of a disease goes down, three passengers testing negative during a re-check, as also the fact that no other passenger at any railway station earlier en route Madhubani from New Delhi or Mumbai reported positive, have raised suspicion that these may be false positive cases,” said Dr Sunil Kumar Jha, civil surgeon, Madhubani.

He added that the sensitivity of RAD kits depends on many factors, temperature being one. “We are getting all the samples re-checked on RT-PCR,” he added.

Meanwhile, the district authorities have allowed all the 67 Covid-19 suspects to be under home isolation till the results from RT-PCR tests allow for some conclusion on their status.

“Our healthcare workers are checking on them on a daily basis to see if their condition deteriorates. We are also insisting that they opt for institutional isolation. Around 800 beds at Covid care centres, available in our district, are vacant,” added Dr Jha.

The Covid-19 bulletin, released by the state health department on Monday, reported only seven new cases. Of them, two were from Gopalganj and one each from Patna, Bhojpur, Madhubani, Purnia and Katihar.

Bihar has reported 725,901 cases and 9,659 deaths since March 21, 2020, when the first Covid-19 case in the state was reported. Patna, with 146,942 cases and 2,334 deaths, was the worst affected. As many as 716,173 patients have recovered so far, taking the state’s case recovery rate to 98.65%. The number of active cases in the state has come down to 68.