TIRUNELVELI: Tirunelveli health officials revealed Express on Monday that the 43-year-old man who tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday had lied to officials about his movements.
The man, who arrived from Dubai at the Madurai airport on March 20, had arrived at the Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital by two-wheeler on Saturday night with a throat infection. According to officials, he said that he had been observing home quarantine at his friend's house in Radhapuram since his return. Based on the information, officials started cleaning and disinfecting works at Valliyur and Radhapuram regions.
However, the details he had given didn't match with what they learnt from the spot as they found out that he had stayed at one of the branches of Hotel Aryas in Tirunelveli City for five days.
"The patient admitted that out of fear he gave us false information," a senior district health official said.
Officials have now disinfected the entire hotel building and have quarantined the hotel staff. The man is also learnt to have moved around in Tirunelveli, forcing officials to trace all the people he had come into contact with and fill in the gaps in his route map.
District Collector Shilpa Prabhakar Satish, who refused to reveal the places the man had visited, told Express that they had all been disinfected.