Health officials on Tuesday categorically denied that a 70-year-old man, who had a travel history to the Middle East, tested positive for COVID-19 and was kept on ventilator.
Meanwhile, the number of suspect cases in the city have gone up to 25 with the admission of a new case in an isolation ward on Tuesday. The person is said to be a Belgian national and has been living in Atchutapuram area since last two years. He recently went to Belgium and returned.
All the 20 out of 25 cases, who have been kept in isolation wards at the Government Hospital For Chest & Communicable Diseases and the KGH and samples sent to the testing centres, have tested negative for COVID-19. But three out of them have tested positive for H1N1 (swine flu).
This was disclosed by the officials of Health Department here on Tuesday. However, the test results for the five other cases, including the one new case on Tuesday, are still awaited.
They said that 12 ventilators were kept ready and none of them was used so far.
“Since the symptoms for both COVID-19 and swine flu are almost similar, we have sent the samples for both tests. While it turned negative for COVID-19 for 20 cases, three tested positive for swine flu,” said Principal of Andhra Medical College and in-charge of the quarantine facility at Visakha Institute of Medical Sciences (VIMS) P.V. Sudhakar. “This indicates that H1N1 is still prevalent and we need to be extra cautious,” he added.
He informed The Hindu that 17 of them who tested negative for COVID-19 were discharged, but the three who tested positive for swine flu were moved from the COVID- 19 isolation ward to the swine flu ward. “They are all responding to the treatment and doing well,” he said.
In the city so far, about 8,000 people who have a travel history or have symptoms such as fever, cold, and cough were screened.
Out of them 135 were put on observation so far and 49 on home isolation. As many as 82 were kept under 28 days observation and 22 admitted to hospital.
