First COVID-19 patients from Maha recover, set to go home

A Pune-based couple, who were the first COVID-19 patients in Maharashtra, have now twice tested negative for the deadly coronavirus and are set to be discharged from hospital on Wednesday, a health official said.

The couple, admitted to a hospital here on March 9, will be taken home in an ambulance of the Pune Municipal Corporation.

“Their first samples after 14 days of isolation period tested negative on Monday. The repeat samples were sent in next 24 hours on Tuesday and in that also, the couple tested negative,” an official from the Pune civic body’s health department said.

The couple and their daughter were part of a 40-member tourist group that returned to Mumbai from Dubai on March 1.

They travelled from Mumbai to Pune in a cab.

Besides the couple, their daughter and the cab driver had also tested positive for the coronavirus.

After the isolation period, the first test of their daughter, the cab driver and one more person from the Dubai trip tested negative on Tuesday, the official said.

“Their repeat samples will be sent today and if they test negative, they will also be discharged,” he said.

The condition of the couple is “perfectly fine and they are happy,” the official said.

Speaking to PTI, the man said his health and that of his wife, daughter and the cab driver was fine.

Till Tuesday, Maharashtra reported 107 coronavirus cases, the highest in the country so far.