Kerala medical student, who was India’s first COVID-19 patient, tests positive again

The 20-year-old who hails from Thrissur district got her test results on July 13 and is exhibiting only mild symptoms.
COVID 19 testing
COVID 19 testing
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The young medical student from Kerala, who was the first COVID-19 patient in India last year at the outset of the pandemic, has tested positive for the coronavirus once again. The 20-year-old, who hails from Thrissur district, got her test results on July 13, Tuesday. She had undergone an RT-PCR test as she was going to Delhi. She is presently under home quarantine.

Thrissur District Medical Officer (DMO), KJ Reena, told the media that the student's condition is stable and there are no major symptoms. "She is reinfected with COVID-19. Her RT-PCR is positive, antigen is negative. She is asymptomatic," Dr K J Reena told PTI. The 20-year-old woman hadn’t taken her COVID-19 vaccine yet. She was also planning to go back to China to continue her studies which is why she took the RT-PCR test.

It was on January 23, 2020 that the third-year medical student flew back to Kerala from Wuhan, China, which was the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic. As Wuhan went into complete lockdown, she was among a group of medical students who returned to Kerala. A week after she arrived, she tested positive for the coronavirus on January 30, 2020 -- the first case in India. Following this, two other students who came back from Wuhan also tested positive. But the early tracking and quarantine mechanisms which were in place in the state prevented the further spread of the virus from the three students.

When the student returned to India last year and was found to have COVID-19, she initially presented with a dry cough and sore throat. Though she had apparently not had direct contact with a coronavirus positive person, she is suspected to have been infected while travelling from Wuhan to Kunming by train. She came to the General Hospital in Thrissur on January 27, 2020, and her samples were sent for testing to National Institute of Virology, Pune. She underwent further treatment at Government Medical College, Thrissur. She tested negative for the virus after 19 days. 

PTI Inputs

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