COVID-19 relapse? Kuwait-based Kerala nurse, cured of the virus once, tests positive again

Malappuram: In the first case of relapse of COVID-19 infection in Kerala, a nine-month pregnant nurse, who returned from Kuwait recently after recovering from the disease, has tested positive once again here. The 34-year-old Alappuzha native had returned to India on May 13 after she managed to get a ticket on board one of the special flights arranged by the central government under the 'Vande Bharat Mission' to bring back stranded Indians from the gulf and other countries.

On disclosing her history of coronavirus and recovery from the disease in Kuwait, the health authorities had shifted her to the isolation ward at the Government medical college in Manjeri.

District health authorities said the woman had returned to India after recovering from the viral infection, but before a repeat test prescribed after 14 days.

"We appreciate the fact that she disclosed the facts of her infection history.

She tested negative in Kuwait, but got her ticket to India before undergoing a second test," the District Medical Officer Dr K Sakeena said.

Though the case of a relapse is a first in the state, there have been cases of complications of the coronavirus recovered persons as their immune systems became weak, sources pointed out.

There have been cases of relapse of the infection from some other places in the country, they said.

Kerala saw a disturbing spurt in fresh COVID-19 cases on Monday with 29 more test positive. On Tuesday, 12 people tested positive in the state of which 4 came from abroad.

The state, which once claimed to have flattened the curve, has been seeing a rise in the number of cases ever since the repatriation mission to bring back Indian citizens stranded in other countries began. The influx of people from other states have also contributed to the rising numbers.

The first Air India repatriation flight had landed in the state on May 7 from Abu Dhabi and since then several flights and two ships had been operated with hundreds of people being brought back home. Besides, nearly 1,000 Keralites returned by a special train from New Delhi on Friday.

The country's first COVID-19 case was reported in Kerala on January 30 when a medical student from Wuhan, the epicentre of the virus, tested positive in Thrissur.

The second wave of the virus had hit the state during March when a three-member family returned from Italy.