Second test of Assam girl for COVID-19 turns out negative: Himanta Biswa Sarma

The second test of a four-and-a-half-year-old girl in Assam, who had initially tested positive for coronavirus, has tuned out to be negative, state Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Sunday.

"The 4-year-old child who was suspected of #covid19 and tested in Jorhat Medical College and RMRC, Dibrugarh has been found NEGATIVE. There is no Covid19 positive case in Assam so far," Sarma tweeted, attaching a copy of the report.

Jorhat Deputy Commissioner Roshni Aparanji Korati had on Saturday night said that the results of the initial test done at the Jorhat Medical College and Hospital (JMCH) laboratory were positive.

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"We have sent the sample to ICMR-RMRC laboratory at Lahowal in Dibrugarh district for a re-check. The result is expected tomorrow afternoon," she had said.

Korati had also informed that the girl's family was from the Pulibor area in the district and they had recently travelled from Bihar in a train to Mariani in Jorhat.

"The girl, her sister and her mother came to Jorhat on March 19. Health workers visited the family on March 20 and brought them to JMCH as the girl exhibited symptoms," she had said.

Korati said the authority had started tracing all those who came in contact of the girl, whose family has no history of foreign travel.

"Everybody is being placed under home isolation, including the health workers visiting them. The family has been shifted to the JMCH isolation ward," the DC had added. 

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