BIG B AND JUNIOR ARE 'CLINICALLY STABLE'

Superstar Amitabh Bachchan and his son, actor Abhishek Bachchan, who were admitted to Nanavati Hospital after testing positive for COVID-19, are ‘clinically stable’. According to the hospital, both of them had mild symptoms, and do not need aggressive treatment.

However, it should be mentioned here that the megastar is asthmatic and had faced difficulty breathing last week. Senior doctors treating COVID-19 patients at civic-run hospitals said considering senior Bachchan’s age, a more cautious approach is required during treatment, as compared to a patient of a younger age.

“They are both in the (isolation) ward and are clinically stable. At present, they

do not require aggressive treatment. They are responding well to the first line of medication and have been given supportive therapy,” said a hospital source. They will be discharged soon, the source added.

Dr Abdul Samad Ansari, director of the critical care unit of Nanavati Hospital and the doctor treating the two actors said, “Both of them are doing well. We have given them symptomatic medicines.”

Civic officials said a contact tracing exercise was carried out as Abhishek Bachchan had stepped out of home for work before he tested positive. Vishwas Mote, Assistant Municipal Commissioner, of BMC's K West ward said, "We had identified 54 close contacts, of whom 26 were high-risk contacts, and 28 were low-risk contacts. We tested the 26 high-risk contacts, and all have tested negative today."

Mote added, "The remaining 28 were low-risk contacts, and have been home quarantined. These low-risk contacts also include the people who may have come in contact with Abhishek Bachchan who had recently gone out for his film-related shooting. We are constantly monitoring the situation, as per the protocol." “As per data, patients above the age of 65 with co-morbidities develop complications af ter 10 days of getting exposed to the virus. They develop a cytokine storm when inflammation begins in organs, especially in lungs. This puts Amitabh Bachchan at a higher risk than his son who is younger,” said a senior doctor.

On July 11, Amitabh and Abhishek had tweeted that they had tested positive for COVID-19. The following day, Amitabh's daughterin-law, actor Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and her eight-year-old daughter Aaradhya also tested positive for COVID-19. They are ‘selfquarantining at home’.