Arunachal Pradesh’s lone COVID-19 patient, a 31-year-old man, was discharged from hospital on Friday after being declared cured, officials said.
His swab samples were found to be negative for two consecutive times within a span of 24 hours, they said.
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Immediately after his release from the Tezu Zonal Hospital in Lohit district, the man was taken with police and CRPF escort to the quarantine centre at Parsuram Kund where his five family members are kept, a senior district health official said.
“The family members of the person -- his parents, brother, sister-in-law and a child have tested negative, District Medical Officer S Chai Pul said.
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He would stay in the quarantine centre along with his family members till the lockdown ends as the district administration has declared his village a containment zone.
The hospital authority served him lunch, comprising a dish of local fish, before his discharge and gifted him a wall clock which he asked for to a keep track of the forthcoming Ramzan (for fasting), Mr. Pul said.
The designated vehicle for COVID-19 cases was also disinfected before the person was taken to the quarantine centre, he added.
The man was discharged from the hospital in the presence of police, Medical Superintendent C. Tayeng and District Surveillance Officer S Towong, besides other doctors who treated him, Mr. Pul said.
The man had attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi’s Nizamuddin last month. He tested positive for coronavirus infection on April 1 and since then he was kept in an isolation ward at the Tezu Zonal Hospital.
His second swab sample was tested at the Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC) in Dibrugarh in Assam on April 7. The report of the second test also came in as positive but with decreasing viral load.
