Three patients who were discharged after testing negative for COVID-19 on Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test have tested positive during their follow-up tests.
A 58-year-old man from Sun City Apartments in Kathmandu, a 19-year-old boy from Rautahat, and a 42-year-old Indian national were discharged after their initial test result came negative for coronavirus.
According to Dr Bikash Devkota, spokesperson for the Health Ministry, after the results of the follow-up tests came positive, all three have been placed in isolation and are under medical observation.
Nepal, however, is not the first country to see such re-emergence cases as more than 260 patients in South Korea had tested positive for coronavirus after recovery.
Dr Oh Myoung-don from Seoul National University Hospital at a news briefing said, “The method used to detect the coronavirus, called polymerase chain reaction (PCR), cannot distinguish between genetic material (RNA or DNA) from infectious virus and the “dead” virus fragments that can linger in the body long after a person recovers.”
There are 99 cases of coronavirus in Nepal as of yet and 22 of them have been sent home after recovery.
