India’s first COVID patient, a student from Kerala, tests positive again

India’s first COVID-19 patient, a Kerala-based medical student, tested positive for coronavirus once again in Thrissur, the local health authorities said on Tuesday (July 13).

The 20-year-old Kerala woman had tested positive in January last year after her return from Wuhan in China, where she had gone for higher studies. She tested positive once again on July 13, 2021.

“She is reinfected with COVID-19. Her RT-PCR is positive, antigen is negative. She is asymptomatic,” Thrissur District Medical Officer Dr KJ Reena told news agency Press Trust of India.

Dr Reena said the medico’s samples were tested as she was preparing to go to New Delhi for further study. Her RT-PCR test results came out to be positive, the doctor said.

The woman is asymptomatic and currently at home and doing well, the doctor told PTI. Doctors are monitoring her closely.

India Today quoted officials to say the 30-year-old student has not taken the first dose of COVID vaccine yet.

The woman was a third-year medical student from Wuhan University in China. In January 2020, she returned to Kerala for semester holidays but tested positive, becoming India’s first COVID-19 patient. She was then given treatment at Thrissur Medical College & Hospital and was given a discharge on February 20, 2020.

India reported 31,443 new cases in last 24 hours, which is the lowest in 118 days. The country’s recovery rate increased to 97.28% with 49,007 patients recovering in the last 24 hours. India’s active caseload currently stands at 4,31,315, the lowest in 109 days.

Also read: In rain-soaked Thrissur, tea with greatest translator in the world

While active cases have been declining, a sudden rise in the R-value has got the health department worried. The R-value is an indicator of how many people a COVID-19 patient can infect.

For the first time in over two months, India’s R-value increased from 0.78 on June 30 to 0.88 in the first week of July.