A 72-year-old man was erroneously declared as having tested positive for COVID-19 in Meghalaya, which officials said was a mechanical error. The person died four days after he was discharged.
The patient was admitted to a private hospital after he complained of respiratory problems. The man from Umsamlem village in Ri-Bhoi district bordering Assam was declared COVID-19 positive after the RT-PCR test. He was admitted on 9th June to a hospital in state capital Shillong and was diagnosed with an acute respiratory infection.
An official said, “Following the outcome of the test, we started contact tracing but none of his contacts tested positive for COVID-19. This made us curious and RT-PCR and rapid antibody tests were subsequently conducted on him. This time the results came negative for the infection. More tests were done on the man and all the tests returned negative. The RT-PCR machines record 99 percent accuracy, this may be out of 1% category.” state Health Services Director Aman War told.
Officials of the state health department and the response team met to discuss and concluded it was a “false COVID-19 positive” case. The patient, however, died after four days of his discharge which he insisted and family requested, on 22nd June. He was buried in the Catholic Church cemetery in the village.
Source: ANI, Deccan Herald