Two discharged patients taken back to hospital after a test finds them positive again

Two coronavirus patients who were discharged from the Government Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS), Greater Noida on Friday were taken back to the hospital after

Two coronavirus patients who were discharged from the Government Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS), Greater Noida on Friday were taken back to the hospital after a second round of tests—conducted after they reportedly recovered— found them positive for the infection again on Saturday.

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The hospital authorities said the patients had recovered from coronavirus disease(Covid-19) and their samples , sent to the National Center for Disease Control (NCDC), had tested negative, and the report from a lab at Aligarh Muslim University that found them positive on Saturday could be a result of a technical glitch. The patients’ samples have been collected again for another round of testing.

As a precautionary measure, the patients, a 53-year-old man from Sector 128, Noida and a daughter of Ceasefire employee who lives in 137, were brought back to GIMS right after the Aligarh reports came on Saturday morning, officials said. At least 54 cases of coronavirus are directly or indirectly linked to the fire solutions firm Ceasefire.

“The reports from NCDC have found them negative, but the Aligarh lab reports are showing them positive for Covid-19. It is looks like a technical glitch, but we aren’t aware of it completely. We have got the patients back to the hospital as a precautionary measure. Our laboratory is ready, so we are conducting their tests here once again. We are expecting the reports to come negative and they should be sent back soon,” Dr Rakesh Gupta, director, GIMS said on Sunday.

The patients were discharged on Friday the first round of tests, comprising two tests, found them negative for Covid-19. Both the samples, including one sent to NCDC, had tested negative. Before discharging Covid-19 patients after their recovery,two samples are sent for testing within a gap of 24 hours. However, as a precautionary step, a third sample was collected and sent to Aligarh lab for testing and the two were discharged. The third sample’s report came positive on Saturday after which the duo was called back to the hospital and there samples were collected. The samples will be tested at the newly developed Covid-19 lab at GIMS.

For the past one week, test reports of patients suspected of Covid-19 were getting delayed causing much trouble to the district health department. The district magistrate had allotted ₹46.22 lakh to GIMS and ₹65 lakh to the Super Speciality Children Hospital in Sector 39 to develop Covid-19 laboratories, so that the delay in reports can be avoided.

Most of the samples from Gautam Budh Nagar were going to Aligarh Muslim University or the Meerut laboratories, but since the number of tests have increased in the state, these labs have been overloaded with work.

In another development, mother of the Sector 137 patient was also discharged from GIMS on Monday after two of her test reports were negative.