Two passengers who arrived in India from the United Kingdom, and left isolation centres after testing positive for the coronavirus at the Delhi airport have been tracked down at their homes in Andhra Pradesh and Punjab, reported NDTV. The two have been admitted to government facilities.
Following the emergence of a new strain of the coronavirus in the UK, the Centre has made RT-PCR tests mandatory for people arriving from the country. Flights connecting India and the UK have also been suspended from December 23 to December 31.
In one of the cases, a 47-year old woman tested positive, but was asymptomatic, upon landing in Delhi on December 21, according to PTI. The woman was then taken to Safdarjung Hospital in the national Capital, where she was advised home isolation. However, she and her 22-year-old son, who had come to receive her, took a train to Andhra Pradesh’s Rajahmundry city, according to NDTV.
The two were apprehended by the railway police and health officials at Rajahmundry, and were admitted to a local hospital on Wednesday night. The son, who had tested negative in Delhi, and the woman have been kept in separate isolation wards, according to PTI.
Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister (Health) AKK Srinivas said that preliminary tests on the woman did not reveal the new coronavirus strain and the authorities were waiting for a report from the National Institute of Virology in Pune, reported PTI.
Srinivas said that the woman and her son had little contact with other passengers in the train as they travelled in a First Class coach. No case has been registered against them, unidentified officials told PTI.
In the second case, a man who tested positive in Delhi, escaped an isolation centre in the Capital and reached Ludhiana in Punjab, NDTV reported.
Additional Deputy Commissioner (Development) of Ludhiana said that the person admitted himself at Fortis Hospital in the city and has now been sent to Lok Nayak Jaiprakash Hospital in Delhi, reported ANI. He also said that action will be taken against Fortis Hospital for not informing the district administration.
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