Haripur couple found negative to coronavirus

HARIPUR: A couple has tested asymptomatic of COVID-19 in a village of Khanpur tehsil, sources said here on Thursday.

It brought a sigh of relief to the couple, its family, villagers and health department officials as there were fear the man and his wife could test positive for coronavirus. Sources in the office of District Health Officer Haripur said that Safdar Zaman, 70, and his wife Taj Sultan, 67, of Pind Gakhra village returned home from Iran on March 2.

The couple had travelled to Qum city in Iran on January 27 and later travelled to Najaf and Karbala in Iraq. It got back to Mashhad in Iran and reached Taftan on the Iran-Pakistan border on February 20. They were quarantined by a medical team upon entering Pakistan for 10 days and were cleared to go home on February 28.

The couple, according to Rapid Response Team of Haripur health department, reached home on March 2 where a team of doctors again screened the suspects and found them carrying not a single symptom of coronavirus.

The sources said the couple has been in contact with their son, daughter-in-law and three grandchildren but all were found to be in good health. The sources said that since the family was not falling in the case definition, their samples were not collected and an awareness session was held with them. The couple was advised to stay in a separate home in isolation away from their children and grandchildren for two weeks.

The Health Department sources said that though the couple had tested negative, they would continue to monitor their condition for at least two more weeks.