4 coronavirus suspects flee from Nagpur hospital, traced later
District collector Ravindra Thakare said all the four suspects were admitted to the isolation ward of Mayo General Hospital on Friday evening.
Four people suspected of being infected with coronavirus fled from a government-run hospital in Nagpur city of Maharashtra late on Friday and were traced later by the police, officials said.
District collector Ravindra Thakare said all the four suspects were admitted to the isolation ward of Mayo General Hospital on Friday evening. One of them had returned from the Netherlands and another from Thailand.
They had come on their own suspecting coronavirus-like symptoms and their samples were taken for testing. Two of them reported negative and reports of the remaining two were still awaited, Thakare said.+
Hospital authorities informed the police on Saturday morning after they came to know that the people had slipped away. The police visited their homes and brought them to the hospital in the evening to be kept under observation.
The district administration was also verifying who they had contacted since Friday night and said they would bring them to the hospital for tests and, if necessary, for observation.
It would now conduct a contact tracing for those who tested positive to see who else they may have possibly exposed to the coronavirus.
“Since it’s a sensitive matter, the district administration is now coordinating with the hospital. Moreover, now we have deployed police personnel at Mayo General Hospital and Government Medical College and Hospital in the wake of the development,” Thakare said.
All the four people who fled the hospital, however, said they left as they were kept in the same ward where one positive patient was undergoing treatment.
“We were using the same washroom and the same ward that was being used by the positive patient. When our request to shift all the suspect patients to another isolation ward for observation went unheeded we decided to leave the place at night,” one of them said.
“We all came to the hospital at the same time and underwent tests. However, reports of two of us reporting negative at night only. We repeatedly told the hospital staff about the reports of other suspects but didn’t get any response that made us leave the place at night,” one of the people, whose report came negative in the evening, said.
Also read: Fleeing patients pose a huge risk
Meanwhile, one of the coronavirus suspects, who was admitted to the government-run medical college and hospital tested positive on Saturday afternoon.
The man in his 40s, who was hospitalised and placed in isolation, travelled to the US along with the IT professional, who was detected positive on Thursday.
With this, the total number of coronavirus cases in Nagpur has gone up to four.
“The fourth one has been kept in a special ward at GMCH and he is reported to be stable,” Thakare said.
Three suspected patients of coronavirus from neighbouring Yavatmal city also tested positive on Saturday.
Reports said the samples of eight people from Yavatmal, who went to Dubai for a leisure tour and returned last week, were sent to Mayo General Hospital’s laboratory for testing. Of them, two were found to be positive for coronavirus and four negative. Reports of two others are yet to come.
Thirteen coronavirus suspects were discharged from Mayo General Hospital and GMCH after being tested negative.
“As many as 54 suspects are under observation,” Dr Sajal Mitra, GMCH’s dean, said.
Maharashtra reported 12 more cases of coronavirus on Saturday, taking the total number to 31 in the state.
The state government ordered all schools, colleges, coaching classes and shopping malls to remain close till March 31. Before that, the state had shut down cinema theatres, auditoriums, swimming pools and gymnasiums.
