Covid-19 patient could have been tested more than 4 times, says Nagaland official

Our Correspondent
Kohima, May 1 (EMN): The authorities in Nagaland believe that the Covid-19 patient from Dimapur had undergone more than four tests, with the latest one returning negative.

Addressing a press conference in Kohima on Friday, Secretary of Health and Family Welfare Kesonyu Yhome said: “We are made to understand there have been repeated tests, it was not just four but I guess there has been more, and what we can say is that the latest report has tested negative.”

Yhome said that he was not sure about the details as they do not know the ‘entire sampling that is happening’; adding that they were “only receiving reports from the authorities there”.

The results have not been consistent, he said. “It is not to cast any aspersion on the authorities treating him. It is just to consider that it is part of the clinical and medical testing protocol.”

The statement came amid confusion over fluctuation in the results of Covid-19 tests being conducted on the patient from Nagaland.

The patient from Dimapur was initially tested positive for Covid-19 at Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) on April 12 but the second test result returned negative, before Yhome announced a few days later that the third test was positive.

Then Eastern Mirror broke the news on Thursday about the fourth test result which was negative. The patient was subsequently discharged from the hospital on Friday.