The 17th and last COVID-19 patient in Pathanamthitta too was cured of the disease after 41-days of treatment at the General Hospital here on Wednesday.
With this, Pathanamthitta that had became the epicentre of the second spell of COVID-19 in the State exactly two months ago on March 7 has found a slot on the list of COVID-19-free districts in the country. The 40-year-old man who reached his home at Aranmula from the United Kingdom on March 14 had been sent in home quarantine. He was admitted to the General Hospital following a fever and cold on March 24 and tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 the next day.
The medical board here declared him cured of the disease on Wednesday as his two successive throat swab tests were found negative.
In the meantime, his swab samples sent for examination had been tested negative thrice only to test positive the very next day, sources said. He had to undergo treatment for 41 days at the hospital isolation ward. District Collector P.B. Noohu and District Medical Officer (DMO) A.L. Sheeja too joined the health-care personnel and hospital staff at the General Hospital to extend a warm farewell to him. He will have to remain in home quarantine for the next 14 days.
The Collector congratulated the health-care professionals, officials, and hospital staff for collective efforts put in for curing all the 17 COVID-19 patients in the district in a systematic manner.
The DMO said the department had conducted a total of 21 sample tests before declaring the last patient cured of the disease.
Mr. Noohu said nothing but the collective effort put in by various departments was behind the success of the anti-COVID-19 drive in the district.
46 days
It is worth mentioning that a 62-year-woman patient had to undergo treatment for 46 days at the District Hospital in Kozhencherry before being cured of the disease on April 24.
As of now, only five persons with symptomatic fever remain at three government hospitals in the district, Mr. Noohu said.