A woman from Kerala, who was the first COVID-19 patient in India, has tested positive for the pandemic again for the second time and she has been undergoing home quarantine in Thrissur. The woman was a medical student and she had tested positive for the viral infection on January 30, 2020, becoming the first case of Covid in India. 

She was pursuing medicine at Wuhan University in China and she was tested positive for the pandemic after she returned to India for a semester break. After she tested positive for the pandemic and becoming the first case of the virus in India, she had undergone medical treatment at the Thrissur Medical College Hospital for three weeks. She had then tested negative for the virus and she was discharged from the hospital on February 20, 2020. 

More than a year later, when the country has been battling the second wave of the pandemic, she has now tested positive for the pandemic for the second time. Speaking to PTI, Thrissur District Medical Officer Dr KJ Reena said, "She is reinfected with Covid-19. Her RT-PCR is positive and the antigen is negative. She is asymptomatic." It has been reported that the woman has been kept in home quarantine in Thrissur. 

According to the state health authorities, she has tested positive for the second time, when her samples were recently tested as she was preparing to head to New Delhi for study purposes. Dr Reena said that the woman is at her home and she is doing fine. The state health department has said Kerala has recorded 7,798 fresh Covid-19 cases on Monday with a test positivity rate of 9.14 per cent. 

On the front of vaccination in the state, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said 43 per cent of people in the category of 18 years and above had received the first dose and 12 per cent in the same category had received the second dose. Last Saturday, the Chief Minister said that though the number of infections is not declining, restrictions cannot be kept indefinitely in the state and it has to get back to normal as soon as possible. 

Besides reporting 7,798 cases on Monday, Kerala has also reported 100 deaths. While the tally of total cases stands at 30,73,134 so far as of Monday, the state has recorded 14,686 fatalities so far. On Monday, Thrissur has reported the highest number of cases - 1,092, followed by Kozhikode with 780, and Kollam with 774. Amid battling the Covid-19 pandemic, Kerala is also been battling the Zika virus, the deadliest menace which has been distressing the state for the past few days.