Pictures shows the iftar meal at the city’s Jama Masjid on the first day of Ramzan in 2019 and 2020

Ahmedabad: For Covid-19 patients, one four-day cycle is their most dreadful, when two samples are taken within 24 hours. If the two samples are negative, they can be discharged but if not – if one comes positive and another negative or inconclusive – they have to stay back. This is why some of the patients spend more than 14 days in hospitals.

When the five patients from Patan – all contacts of the first Covid-19 patient of the district – tested positive after being found free of viral load, it made the authorities sit up and take note. The case histories of all these patients were studied and their results were compared with others in the same facility.

On Saturday, Jayanti Ravi, principal secretary (health and family welfare), said that one case from Narmada was also similar, taking the number of relapsed cases in Gujarat to six.

“We discussed the cases with chief district health officers (CDHOs) and experts at BJ Medical College in Ahmedabad. There are two possibilities – a patient relapses when their immunity is not good, or residue of the virus could be not be detected and there was a false negative test report,” she said. “We firmly believe that these cases could be due to the first scenario.”

Ravi also said that they have shared their findings with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

Dr A S Salvi, CDHO of Patan, said the patients are related and had been in close contact. “We had 11 patients who completed their seven-day period of quarantine. We carried out tests and found that six were negative and five were positive. The five were kept at the facility and were not sent home. They will be tested again,” he said.

