Delhi health minister tests negative for Covid-19, discharged

Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain has recovered from Covid-19 and was discharged on Friday, 12 days after he was admitted to hospital with high-grade fever and

Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain has recovered from Covid-19 and was discharged on Friday, 12 days after he was admitted to hospital with high-grade fever and a drop in his oxygen saturation levels.

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Jain tested negative for the infection earlier on Friday, according to sources from Max Hospital in Saket, where he was admitted.

He had been initially admitted to the Delhi government-run Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality hospital (RGSSH) in Tahirpur on June 15, the day he had attended an all-party meet with Union home minister Amit Shah, but was moved to the private hospital after his condition deteriorated on June 19 (Friday). He was shifted to the intensive care unit (ICU) and administered plasma therapy the same night.

Following this, his condition improved and he was moved to the general ward of the hospital on Monday.

Jain’s first Covid-19 test came back negative but a subsequent test on June 17 came back positive.

At RGSSH, he had been put on intermittent oxygen support to raise his oxygen saturation. “The oxygen support was removed once the saturation reached about 97%. However, he was not able to maintain the saturation and had to be put on oxygen intermittently,” a doctor at the government-run hospital had told HT on condition of anonymity.

However, on Friday morning his condition deteriorated – he started feeling dizzy and tired. His CT scan showed that his pneumonia, a known complication of Covid-19, had increased after which he was shifted to the private hospital.