VILLUPURAM: Villupuram police has continued its search for a missing COVID-19 patient for the second day on Thursday, increasing the number of teams involved in the search from three to seven.
Meanwhile, district health officials claimed that the man had not been discharged by hospital staff but had escaped while the results for a second test were pending.
According to Villupuram police, 26 people, who were in the care of health department for having COVID-19 symptoms, history of travel to Delhi or contact with positive patients, were discharged on Tuesday after their tests for viral infection were negative. However later that night, police said health officials informed them that four of the 26 had tested positive and asked the police to trace them.
As three of the four patients are from the district, police found them easily and they were admitted back to the Government General Hospital in Villupuram for treatment. However, the fourth person is a native of Delhi. He had come to Villupuram last month after visiting Puducherry where he was arrested in connection to two cases, including making a hoax bomb threat call to Raj Nivas, police said.
Police, however, said the health department had alerted them to the missing persons late on Tuesday, making their task harder. They feared he might have crossed the district border by any truck carrying essential goods.
'We have increased the police teams involved in the search from three to seven and all the borders are under strict surveillance. The search is continuing.' said Villupuram Superintendent of Police S Jeyakumar.'
Health officials, who could not be reached for comment on Wednesday, on Thursday claimed that the man from Delhi had not been discharged but had escaped. When asked if the other three patients who later tested positive had also escaped, they were evasive.
According to the health department, the man’s first test result was inconclusive and so he had been tested again. Officials alleged that he had escaped from the quarantine ward before the result of the second test came back.
Meanwhile, Puducherry police had reportedly caught a person they thought might be the missing man. Later a police team from Villupuram went there and confirmed that he was not the missing person. The Villupuram district administration and police department have released the man’s photograph and urged members of the public to inform them if they saw him anywhere.