Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Two deaths due to Covid-19 in the past seven days have sent health officials in the city into a tizzy. Along with increasing contact tracing of patients, the health department has decided to send the samples of both the deceased to the National Centre for Disease Control, New Delhi, for genome sequencing.
The samples will be sent on a priority basis as the officials suspect any change in the virus strain and want to confirm the prevalence of the virus strain in the city.
“It’s, indeed, a reason for concern as two patients died due to the deadly disease in the past seven days. During contact tracing of these patients, we found they both were fully vaccinated but had severe lung infection,” Chief medical and health officer Dr BS Saitya said. He added that they are sending samples for genome sequencing regularly as it gives an idea of the prevalent strain of the virus.
The patients who died include a 66-year-old woman, resident of Silicon City, admitted to Army Hospital, Mhow. She died on November 21. Similarly, a 69-year-old man died of the disease on November 15 and he had over 90 per cent lung infection.
HoD, Microbiology, MGM Medical College, Dr Anita Mutha said that there was no report of any new virus strain that was prevalent but, as the virus is new, nothing could be predicted as it would be clear only after receiving a genome sequencing report.
Meanwhile, doctors have appealed to people not to lower their guard even when cases of Covid-19 have decreased and the government has revoked all the restrictions.
2 more army men test +ve
Two more army personnel tested Covid-19 positive on Monday with which the total number of army personnel found positive in the past three days has increased to four. However, these patients do not study in IIM-Indore.
Those who tested positive include 53-year-old male Nayan Singh and a 41-year-old male—both residents of the Mhow Cantonment area. “Two more army personnel were found positive and they were admitted to the Army Hospital in Mhow. Contact tracing of these patients will be done by the health officers of the army,” Dr Saitya said.
