[Karyir Riba]
ROING, Jul 30: A primary contact of a driver supplying essential commodities who had tested Covid-19 positive on 21 July, tested positive for the virus on Thursday.
The primary contact has been identified as the vehicle’s owner.
Lower Dibang Valley DMO Dr R Tatan informed that, while all the other 47 contacts of the driver were tested on 22 July, the owner was traced and tested on the 23rd as he lives in Emuli village.
“The first test result was negative, but the retest done today has come back positive,” the DMO informed.
He further informed that the 47 contacts who had tested negative were retested five days later, and all results were negative in the second tests, as well.
The DMO also issued a clarification on the reports of a farmer couple from Abali village testing positive on Thursday, and said that the first test had been “misread.”
“The test result has to be read between 15 and 30 minutes of being conducted. A reading after 30 minutes is not considered viable. It was a case of faulty reading,” he said.
“Two more tests were later performed on the couple, and both came back negative,” the DMO said.
A total of 78 rapid antigen tests were conducted in the district on Thursday (31 at the Shantipur check gate, 45 at the district hospital, and two at the paid quarantine centre), out of which only one tested positive.
