This story is from April 6, 2020

Pathanamthitta inching out of Covid scare, but cautious

Pathanamthitta inching out of Covid scare, but cautious
Thiruvananthapuram: The first hotspot in the state, Pathanamthitta is gradually coming out of the epidemic scare. On Sunday, results of 90 samples have come as negative, and one sample tested Covid-19 positive. Of the 19 people in hospitals now, only six are Covid-19 positive.
At one stage, Pathanamthitta had nine positive cases when the entire state had only 14 positive cases reported.
The total number of positive cases reported from the district till date is 14 and so far eight people have been discharged.
In the video conference Union cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba had with the chief secretaries of all states on Sunday, Gauba congratulated the district administration of Pathanamthitta for the efforts taken to check the spreading of the disease and also for the efforts taken in identifying people who had direct contacts with the Covid-19-positive patients. The district was the only hotspot in the state when the Covid-19 made its comeback after the three reported cases of Wuhan returnees in January.
The district was under high-risk category when six members of a family tested positive after three of them arrived from Italy. The district administration had the herculean task of tracing direct contacts, and over 6,000 people were put under observation later.
“It cannot be said that we can relax now. The latest test results have given us some relief. We still have put people under quarantine and we have to strictly monitor them. More results are to come in the coming days,” says P B Nooh, district collector, who has been monitoring the crisis ever since the first case was reported in the district on March 8.
There was an element of concern when it was identified that 16 people had come to the district after attending the meeting at Nizamuddin in New Delhi. Even though they were quarantined immediately soon after they were traced, it was an anxious wait for the results.

Now, all the 16 have been tested negative. But the health administration in the district is not ready to relax. They have decided to send fresh samples again. “There are reports that some samples have become positive even though the first sample result was negative. Hence, we are not ready to take any risk. We have decided to send their samples for repeated checks,” said Dr Sheeja A L, district medical officer.
The district administration has sent 95 more samples for testing and the results are expected in a day or two.
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