Second patient tests COVID-19 positive after 14-day quarantine period in Karnataka
Bengaluru: In a second such case in the state, a patient has tested positive after his 14-day quarantine period in the state, thereby proving that patients can test positive after the incubation period too.
Patient 218, a 58-year-old man was asymptomatic when he landed from Indonesia on March 21st. On 4th April, his 14-day quarantine period came to an end. On 8th April, his sample was collected. He had no co-morbidities. But, he was shifted from Manipal Hospital (where he was first admitted to) to Victoria Hospital on 11th April when his test results came back positive.
This is the second such case in the state. The first was a case of a 64-year-old man, P54, a resident of Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh, who had travelled to France and arrived on March 1st in India. After his arrival, he had travelled to Himachal Pradesh and then to Puttaparthi in Andhra Pradesh. He arrived in Bengaluru only on March 21 but tested positive on March 26th, 26 days after his return to India.
While doctors say each patient’s immune system is different and that plays a pivotal role in the disease manifesting itself sooner or later, officials say, one can have mild symptoms that can go unnoticed.
Jawaid Akhtar, Additional Chief Secretary, Health, Karnataka, said, “Some infected people can develop very feeble symptoms and may be considered asymptomatic as nobody notices it. The disease will manifest only after 14 days. It doesn’t mean that the incubation period is not calculated scientifically. That is why we have a reporting period of 14 days after 14 days of quarantine. That is why you will not find any case where symptoms have shown after 28 days.”
The 14-day incubation period is used by the United States Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.