Prime Minister Lotay Tshering has said that the detection of second positive case in the country doesn’t bring in any changes to the government’s strategies and preparedness plan for now. Following the detection of the first Covid-19 case in the country on March 5, all primary contacts of the patient zero, an American tourist,, which is also the same for the 59-year-old partner, were traced within the first eight hours and put under quarantine.

The ‘extra’ precaution Bhutan has taken in handling the Covid-19 situation has proven to be practical in detecting the country’s second positive case yesterday.
The partner of the 76-year-old index case (patient zero), who was air evacuated to the USA on March 13, tested positive for the new coronavirus on the fourth test conducted on March 19. The 59-year-old partner, along with the tour guide and the driver who were the primary contacts of the 76-year-old American patient was scheduled to leave the quarantine facility yesterday, after completing the 14 days quarantine period.

The driver and guide tested negative for the virus. Save for the partner, none of the others in Bhutan have tested positive to the virus so far, kuenselonline said. 

 Lyonchhen said that the threat from the partner is negligible and there is no need for the public to panic. “The biggest threat for now should be the deteriorating situation across the world and increasing number of positive cases being detecting in the nearby regions.”

With people growing skeptical of the testing kit and procedures, Lyonchhen explained that the fact that the fourth test on the partner coming positive after three consecutive negative results, showed how sensitive the testing procedure was.

“No test is 100 percent specific but this test is highly sensitive. We test and retest samples when the results are negative but we do not do the same when we have a positive result. This is the nature of the test.”

Bhutan is using an internationally certified machine, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to test sputum, blood and body fluids of suspected new coronavirus patients.The PCR uses artificial intelligence to deliver results and human error is very minimal, according to Lyonchhen. The WHO supplies the reagents used in the testing.

Given the international shortage of testing kits, Covid-19 testing elsewhere costs more than USD 3,000, whereas, in Bhutan it is provided for free.