Sasikala is now stable and conscious, says hospital

The condition of late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s aide V.K. Sasikala, who tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday, is stable.

She was shifted to the COVID-19 ICU at the Victoria Hospital from the Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital on Thursday.

Doctors at the Victoria Hosptial said she was conscious and well oriented. Although she has breathing issues, she is maintaining 98% oxygen saturation on a five-litre non-rebreather mask (NRBM), it said.

Sources said although she wanted to be shifted to Manipal Hospitals for further treatment, she was denied permission from the authorities concerned.

She was hospitalised on Wednesday evening, owing to fever, breathlessness and cough, and was diagnosed with severe acute respiratory illness (SARI).

‘Suggestive of infection’

Although her initial COVID-19 test result returned negative, a repeat RT-PCR test and TRUNAT were done after her CT thorax scan showed features suggestive of severe respiratory infection. The results of the samples then returned positive for COVID-19.

She was moved from Victoria Hospital’s ICU to the COVID-19 block ICU at the Trauma and Emergency Care Centre (TECC), the designated COVID-19 facility on the hospital premises, on Thursday night.