In a shocking development, VK Sasikala, who was the closest aide of late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, has tested positive for the COVID-19 viral infection on Thursday in Victoria Hospital in Bengaluru, days ahead of her release from Parappana Agrahara Prison in the city where she has been lodged for the past four years after getting convicted in Disproportionate Asset case.

Sasikala was confirmed to have contracted the novel coronavirus on Thursday after she was tested for the third time. The expelled ADMK leader has been getting treated at the Intensive Care Unit of the Victoria Hospital in Bengaluru, where she was shifted on Thursday from Bowring Hospital after her initial treatment. She was tested for COVID-19 two times before - a rapid antigen test and an RT-PCR test and these two tests were returned negative on Wednesday when she was getting treated at Bowring Hospital. 

According to reports, Sasikala is being monitored in the Intensive Care Unit, and on Thursday, before she was confirmed to have contracted the viral infection, Victoria Hospital has officially issued a health bulletin concerning the health condition of Sasikala in which the hospital said, "Sasikala's CT Scan showed ground-glass opacities and consolidation in bilateral lung fields - considered indicative of COVID-19. While she is diabetic and hypertensive, the 63-year-old is being treated for Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI)  with antibiotics, an antiviral, besides insulin, steroids, and other supportive measures". 

On Thursday, the hospital had permitted two of Sasikala's relatives, Sivakumar and Venkatesh, who are also doctors to visit her while her nephew TTV Dhinakaran is also camped in Bengaluru and monitoring the health condition of Sasikala, who has been getting treated amid high security as she still remains to be a convict and she will be getting released from prison on January 27, 2021.  

Sasikala had complained of breathing difficulties and health discomforts in the morning hours of Wednesday in the prison following which she was rushed to the hospital in the prison complex. After getting initial treatment, she was then shifted to Bowring Hospital in the city for further treatments where she had undergone two COVID-19 tests, which returned negative. She was brought to the hospital in a state of low oxygen saturation and she was given oxygen support.

The Dean of the Bowring Hospital had earlier said that Sasikala was moved to the ICU for continuous monitoring and she has been doing stable. However, her family members expressed disappointments to the hospital that she hasn't done with the CT scan despite her health condition warrants a CT scan as she was diagnosed with a respiratory infection. Her family members asked the doctors to shift her to a private hospital for higher treatments following which, she was discharged from Bowring Hospital and admitted to Victoria Hospital on Thursday. 

The doctors at Victoria Hospital on Thursday said that a CT Scan of her chest will be performed as it is the protocol to conduct the CT Scan for patients suffering from SARI. She was brought to Victoria Hospital because the scanning equipment at Bowring Hospital was not functioning. Following the CT Scan, Victoria Hospital said that Sasikala has been suffering from a severe lung infection and pneumonia fever and she continues to be in the ICU and her health condition is being monitored by a team of doctors. 

Addressing the media on Friday, the Superintendent of Victoria Hospital claimed that Sasikala has been doing stable and responding well to the treatments. According to reports, as Sasikala has tested positive for COVID-19, her relative Illavarashi, who has been lodged in the same prison along with Sasikala, would get tested for COVID-19 on Friday.