KOLAR: A team of ten police officers has been formed under the direct supervision of Kolar and KGF Superintendents Karthick Reddy and Sujeetha Salman to nab a coronavirus positive patient who went missing. The senior police officers also informed neighbouring Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu police to trace the positive patient and avoid spread of the virus. It is suspected that the forty-year-old patient would have travelled to neighbouring Andhra Pradesh or to Tamil Nadu.
He is a resident of Mandya and came to Kolar district to work in a hotel where he was asked to go for COVID test by the hotel staff. He gave his swab for testing in District SNR Hospital on June 3 and his mobile phone and address of the hotel in Bangarpet was collected.
On Saturday, Kolar District health officials received information that the person was infected by coronavirus. It is said that the officials contacted the patient over the phone and reportedly informed that his report was positive and asked him to rush to the hospital for treatment. He assured them of returning to the district hospital.
However, he did go to the hospital and health officials who attempted to contact him were shocked as his mobile was switched off. Repeated calls didn't get any response and the health surveillance officer lodged a complaint with the police, who swung into action to trace the positive patient.
Sources told the paper that after the patient went missing, Kolar Deputy Commissioner Sathyabhama, Karthick Reddy and Sujeetha Salman held a meeting. They later collected the photo of the person from his sister and commenced the process to track him.
Central Range Inspector General of Police, K.V.Sharath Chandra said since Kolar is a border district, information has been passed onto Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu police to identify him if he was found in their jurisdiction. The cops are making all efforts to trace him to prevent the COVID-19 spread.
Once he is traced, it will be a mammoth task to follow the places where he travelled and the procedures of quarantining primary and secondary contacts will have to be done, Sharath Chandra said.
The missing positive patient brought chaos among the people of Bangarpet, Kolar as he was reportedly present in Bangarpet for an hour on June 2 and present in Kolar on June 3 and now his whereabouts are unknown.