93-yr-old man, septuagenarian wife recover from COVID

August 9, 2020 94 Views No Comment

Correspondent KOHIMA, AUG 8 (NPN): The recovery of an elderly couple (93 year old man and his wife 79), from Lasumi village under Phek district from COVID-19, in the face of high mortality rate in the older population globally due to the infection, has brought a ray of hope to other patients.

The couple, who were admitted to Phek district hospital after testing positive, were released on Saturday after their re-test result returned negative on August 7. It may be mentioned the couple, along with two sons– one of them a healthcare worker, had tested positive for COVID-19 on July 28.

Speaking to Nagaland Post over phone, one of the children expressed joy that despite his parents being in the high risk group, they could recover from the dreaded virus. He also expressed apprehension about the post-recovery scenario where the family may still face the social stigma. While acknowledging that the successful recovery was a collective effort of the doctors and nurses, he said that his parents’ positive attitude contributed to the course of recovery. He said that soon after a frontline worker (his brother) from the family had tested positive, contact tracing was carried out. Though three of his family members were also detected to have been infected during the contact tracing, he clarified that there was no connection with that particular frontline worker, as none of them had any contact.

He said that his brother never returned home after leaving on July 6 for duty. After the completion of his duty, he was quarantined at Pfutsero along with others. However, after completing the quarantine period, he was the only person that tested positive among his colleagues, he added. Since then, he said his brother did not come home. He was of the view that there may be have been a silent COVID-19 carrier/source, without any symptoms which needed to be traced.

Also speaking to Nagaland Post, Medical Superintendent of COVID Hospital Phek, Dr. Tiala Longkumer said the couple along with one of their sons had tested positive on July 24 on TrueNat while RT-PCR confirmatory results from BSL-3 laboratory, returned positive on July 28.

When asked about how the family may have got infected with Covid-19, Dr. Tiala said they cannot ascertain the main source, but was of the view that it probably would have been the son (a healthcare worker) who was detected with Covid-19.

Health & Family Welfare principal director Dr. Vizolie Z. Suokhrie said that despite the increasing rate of positive cases in the state, it was heartening and encouraging to witness the recovery. He also acknowledged the efforts put in by all medical personnel across the state to battle the pandemic.

Source: http://www.nagalandpost.com/93-yr-old-man-septuagenarian-wife-recover-from-covid/220317.html