Sasikala tests positive for Covid-19

Sasikala, 69, was rushed to a hospital after she had faced breathing issues

Former AIADMK leader V K Sasikala, who was rushed to the Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital in Bengaluru on Wednesday evening, tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday. She was shifted to the Victoria Hospital on Thursday afternoon to undergo a CT scan for further evaluation.

Immediately after Sasikala’s swab samples returned positive, the 67-year-old was transferred to the Covid Block (Trauma and Emergency Care) Centre on the Victoria Hospital campus on Thursday night. Sources said she was found to be positive in the third test. Two tests that were done earlier - a rapid antigen test and an RT-PCR test - had returned negative on Wednesday.

Sasikala, who has comorbidities like Type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, hypothyroidism, UTI, was admitted to Bowring Hospital with cough and fever after she complained of breathlessness.

She was shifted to the ICU of the Bowring Hospital on Thursday morning after she was diagnosed with Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI) and severe chest infection. Her blood oxygen dropped below the normal level and her sugar levels were also very high. Sasikala has been on oxygen support since her admission to the hospital and is maintaining oxygen saturation on 10 litres of oxygen through NRBM (Non-rebreather mask).

The former AIADMK leader, however, looked cheerful when she was wheeled out of the Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital on Thursday afternoon as she waved at her supporters while sporting a broad smile.

Dr Venkatesh, Sasikala’s family physician and relative, her nephew, and AMMK leader T T V Dhinakaran met Sasikala for a brief while inside the hospital on Thursday afternoon.

“Dr Venkatesh is the family doctor and he gave his opinion on her health condition to the doctors,” a family source said. Before the results of the second RT-PCR came out, Dr Ramesh Krishna, medical superintendent, Victoria Hospital, said Sasikala had got a Covid-19 Reporting and Data System (CO-RAD) score of 5.

CO-RAD is a new method to assess the risk factor of patients who are RT-PCR negative. A CO-RAD score is a CT scan-based system. A score ranging from 3 to 6 means the level of suspicion is ‘equivocal’ to ‘very high’, meaning ‘features are compatible with Covid-19’ or are ‘typical of Covid-19’.

“In her CT thorax, doctors observed areas of ground-glass opacities and consolidation in bilateral lung fields. She’s got a CT severity score of 16 out of 25, which is severe,” Krishna said.

Sasikala's hospitalisation comes exactly a week before she is set to walk out of the Parappana Agrahara prison after completing her four-year jail term in a disproportionate assets (DA) case. The close confidante of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa surrendered before the jail authorities on February 15, 2017, days after her bid to occupy the chief minister's chair failed.