Experts have expressed concern over the low recovery rate of COVID-19 cases in the district, despite strict compliance with the lockdown norms.
As per a Health Department data, 198 persons have been tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 in the district and 122 of them are still undergoing treatment at various hospitals, 61.61%, as of Monday. A total of 75 persons, 37.87%, have been cured of the disease and one patient died.
State average
The cure rate in Pathanamthitta is much lower than the State average. At the State level, 52.78% of the 3,310 patients have been cured of the disease as of Monday.
In the first phase of the pandemic, Pathanamthitta had 17 patients. The district that had become the epicentre of the disease on March 7 had successfully treated all 17 patients in the first spell. All of them were properly quarantined in the isolation wards of various hospitals and got cured in the next 46 days.
The systematic and effective treatment protocol pursued by the health-care team here had succeeded in keeping the district free of any new cases for one month from April 12 till a fresh case was diagnosed on May 12.
Second spell
A 69-year-old woman who came from Abu Dhabi was tested positive on May 12, making it the start of a second spell of the pandemic in the district with the beginning of the inflow of Non-Resident Keralites (NoRKs) from abroad and from various other parts of the country.
The number of patients went up to four in a short span of one week. And now the district has started witnessing a spurt in the number of fresh cases.
Testing protocol
The Health Department follows the protocol of two consecutive negative throat swab tests for declaring a patient cured. The low recovery rate is attributed to the delay or rather failure in ensuring swab results, according to experts.
As much as 60% of the patients in the district were found to be asymptomatic, said Ashish Mohankumar, Resident Medical Officer.