Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Wednesday said eight family members of the state”s first COVID-19 patient, who died on April 15, have now tested negative for the disease.

Dr John L Sailo Ryntathiang, the 69-year-old founder of Bethany Hospitals, who died on April 15, had tested positive for the coronavirus on April 13.

Subsequently his wife and seven others in his family had also tested positive while eight others had tested negative for the disease.

Taking to twitter, the chief minister wrote, “16 family members of the index patient were tested again, including the 8 who were positive. Their test results came in today and they have all tested negative. 8 positive cases will need to be tested again after 24 hours as per protocol to completely declare them as recovered.”

Two of the doctor”s domestic helps and his friend have also tested positive for the disease and their tests results are awaited, a senior health official said.