Two suspected patients of Covid-19 fled from the quarantine ward of Jammu's Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) last night, but were later brought back to the medical facility, officials informed Thursday. Having a travel history to coronavirus-hit Italy and South Korea, they were admitted to the hospital on Wednesday afternoon.
Narrating the incident, one of the senior officials at GMCH said that the relatives of one of the patients "forcefully" took him home. Soon after, the other patient too left the isolation ward, despite the presence of security guards.
"Their blood samples were collected and they were told to stay in the isolation ward, but as their blood report was yet to turn in, they left the hospital premises," the senior official was quoted as saying.
However, both of them were traced, brought back and re-admitted to the hospital. Their samples are currently at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune.
J&K on alert against coronavirus
Jammu and Kashmir was put on alert after it identified around 200 people who had a travel history to coronavirus-affected countries or had come in contact with people from those countries. Out of the twenty-one suspected persons across the union territory, no one has tested positive for Covid-19.
A senior official, who has been appointed to ramp up efforts to prevent the spread of novel coronavirus in Jammu and Kashmir, said, "A 100 percent self-declaration at the airports of Jammu and Srinagar will start from Thursday to trace any such person having travel history to the infected countries."
"Further, checkpoints for passengers travelling by road have been set up at Lakhanpur and Lower Munda (Zig) to identify individuals with travel history to these countries," he added.
Bhupinder Kumar, Mission Director, National Health Mission (NHM), Jammu and Kashmir, has been made the overall in-charge of the coronavirus control efforts in the union territory.
