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Uttarakhand prisoner spends restless nights after the man he stabbed turns Covid-19 positive
The coronavirus disease has infected even the inmates in a Uttarakhand jail.
A man who was recently jailed in Dehradun for allegedly attacking another man with a knife spent two restless nights at the isolation centre in Government Doon Medical College Hospital this week, after he learnt that the victim had tested positive for Covid-19.
Dr. NS Khatri, deputy chief medical superintendent of the hospital said that the police officials had brought in a prisoner to the hospital for testing on Tuesday.
“On Tuesday, around evening, police officials brought in a prisoner to get him tested for Covid-19 after they learnt that the victim he attacked had tested positive. We had kept the prisoner in an isolation ward for suspected patients in the hospital for two nights, before his test results were released on Thursday,” said Dr. Khatri.
The HT Guide to Coronavirus COVID-19
The accused was recently sent to jail by a district court in Dehradun for allegedly stabbing a person.
A senior official from the Sudhowala prison, where the accused is lodged, said the accused tested negative for Covid-19 on Thursday morning. The official didn’t wish to be named.
“We had taken the accused to the hospital for testing where he stayed for two nights. Since he tested negative for Covid-19 on Thursday, he will be brought back to the prison again,” said the senior official. The person had not been brought back to the prison till the filing of this copy.
On May 31, Covid-19 cases reached the prisons of Uttarakhand when five inmates in Sitarganj jail tested positive for the virus. The jail located in Udham Singh Nagar district has 666 inmates against a capacity of around 300, said jail authorities.
Dr Mourya, superintendent Sitarganj jail, said those who tested positive were among the 52 inmates whose samples were tested on a random basis. Following the results, 14 other prisoners, who were in contact with the positive cases, were quarantined in a ward while several others, including the jail guards and authorities who came into contact with these prisoners, were being tested for the disease, he had had said.
