12-member team taking care of first coronavirus patient in Arunachal Pradesh

Itanagar, Apr 9 () A 12-member team of frontlinehealth workers is providing 24X7 service to the first COVID-19patient in Arunachal Pradesh whose 'viral load' has been foundto have decreased significantly, raising hopes of hisrecovery, a senior official said on Thursday.

'Viral load' refers to the amount of virus present ina sample.

"The viral load of the patient is showing adecreasing trend after the second test and we are hopeful thatthe patient will recover soon," state health secretary PParthiban said.

The swab sample of the man from Medo in Lohitdistrict was sent to the Regional Medical Research Centre(RMRC) at Dibrugarh in Assam for the second confirmatory testfor COVID-19 which too had yielded positive result, he said.

Another sample would be sent for testing on April 14,the official said.

The patient is presently kept in an isolation ward atthe Zonal Hospital at Tezu, the headquarters of Lohitdistrict.

Lohit District Medical Officer (DMO) Dr S Chai Pulinformed that the man is asymptomatic and doing well.

"Adequate diet, sanitisation of the isolation ward andround-the-clock service is being provided by our frontlineteam, including two doctors, four nurses, two sanitaryassistants and four multi-tasking staff (MTS)," she said.

Medicine specialist Dr Anyang Modi from the districthospital at Roing in Lower Dibang valley is regularlysupervising the COVID-19 patient.

"It is a challenge for us that we are handling thefirst COVID-19 positive patient in the state," she said.

On the line of treatment, Dr Chai Pul said thatadequate vitamin C has been given to the patient while noantibiotics have been prescribed as he is still asymptomatic.

"Regular counselling is being done to boost hismorale," the DMO said.

Members of the team attending to the patient arebeing trained regularly and mock drills in donning andremoving headgear and use of Personal Protective Equipment(PPE) are also being conducted.

The 31-year-old person from Medo had attended theNizamuddin Markaz event in Delhi on March 15 and returned homeon March 18.

Swab samples of family members of the man, however,had tested negative.

Till Wednesday, a total of 188 samples have been sentfor COVID-19 testing from Arunachal Pradesh of which only the31-year-old tested positive for the infection, while the restare negative, state Surveillance Officer (IDSP) Dr LobsangJampa said. UPLMM MM