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Asymptomatic Covid positive woman ‘escapes’ home quarantine to fly to hubby in UAE; Hinjewadi cops probe case for FIR
An FIR has not yet been filed in the case though Yashwant Gawari, senior inspector, Hinjewadi police station, said, “We have received letters from the housing society and a doctor. We will lodge an FIR after investigating the doctor’s complaint.”
The chairperson of Vision Indramegh Cooperative Society at Punwale, Hinjewadi has filed a complaint with the Hinjewadi police as regards “a Covid-19 positive society member” who allegedly broke her home quarantine after she tested positive and flew to the UAE.
An FIR has not yet been filed in the case though Yashwant Gawari, senior inspector, Hinjewadi police station, said, “We have received letters from the housing society and a doctor. We will lodge an FIR after investigating the doctor’s complaint.”
According to information revealed by the chairperson of the society, who requested anonymity, the woman and her husband are residents of the UAE, and the woman was in Pune without her husband.
The woman, aged in the below-30 category, underwent the test at the Aditya Birla Hospital and was declared positive on July 11.
“Because she was asymptomatic, she was under a 14-day home quarantine,” the chairperson said.
A statement from the Aditya Birla Hospital said: “She got herself tested on July 11. She had to go Dubai, so she wanted to do the Covid test. She tested positive, but since she was not showing any symptoms we advised her home quarantine.”
The woman flew to Sharjah on July 18.
Her home isolation was to end on July 24.
Several calls to the woman in the UAE by HT have gone unanswered.
“Housing society members found her missing on the night of July 17, and got to know her location when she sent a text message from Sharjah airport on July 18 noon,” the chairperson said.
The message, a copy of which is with HT, reads: “your covid-19 test on 18/7/2020 at Sharjah International Airport reported that your result is negative. Please stay safe and healthy”.
“She left the building filling out wrong information at the gate. Only her message on July 18 gave us the details,” said a member of the society who received the message.
“We lodged a complaint the same day we received her message,” said the chairperson, adding that Vision Indramegh Cooperative Society is under the society cluster containment zone.
“While the woman left for Dubai, we are still not allowed to go to our offices. We don’t know when we will be out of the cluster containment zone,” the chairperson said.
Dr Amit Mane, from the health department of the Pimpri Cinchwad municipal corporation (PCMC), said, “I have already complained to PCMC police commissioner Sandeep Bishnoi and the Hinjewadi police station. Action will be taken against the woman.”
Shravan Hardikar, PCMC commissioner said, “People should not behave in this manner. What if she had tested positive at Sharjah airport, it could have caused many problems. She should have completed her home isolation before going to the UAE.”
