India’s second Omicron patient, a 47-year-old anaesthetist at a government hospital in South Bengaluru, has tested positive again in an RT-PCR test. He will not be discharged until he tests negative twice in an RT-PCR test during a 24-hour period, authorities said.
The anaesthetist, admitted to the Bowring hospital, had earlier said he was doing well and “is fit enough to play badminton”.
At Bowring hospital, the doctor was tested along with three of his colleagues (who were his contacts and had tested positive earlier). They include a vascular surgeon, a cardiothoracic surgeon and an anaesthetist. They are aged 51, 47 and 32.
All four are housed in the same ward in the hospital. While the trio tested negative in the retest, the anaesthetist’s results came back as positive. The retest, however, didn’t show a high viral load. He will remain in the hospital for some more time while his colleagues could be discharged on Tuesday, according to a nodal officer at the hospital.
Dr Manoj Kumar, the hospital dean, said the three doctors would be retested on Tuesday as they were suspected to be infected with Omicron. They would be discharged if they test negative again, he added.
The anaesthetist’s 41-year-old wife, who is an ophthalmologist, hasn’t been subjected to a retest because she still has symptoms. Their two daughters, aged 13 and 5, are also in hospital. On Saturday, the older daughter’s RT-PCR test report came back as positive while the younger daughter’s was negative. While the younger daughter is fit to be discharged, the decision has to be taken by the parents, the hospital paediatrician said.
Symptomatic non-Omicron patients can be discharged after 10 days of hospitalisation without an RT-PCR test.
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(Published 06 December 2021, 20:15 IST)
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