TN police pick up Covid-19 patient discharged by mistake

"He was found at Palladam near Chengalpattu on the highway. A local electric shop owner after seeing our poster with the patient's picture spotted him with some lorry drivers at the truck bay," Villupuram's Superintendent of Police S. Jeyakumar told IANS.

The Villupuram police had formed several teams and started their hunt for the Covid-19 patient who was discharged from the hospital by mistake on April 7.

For a long time, the police had hit a dead end as the two mobile numbers the patient had given to the hospital authorities were Delhi numbers which were not reachable.

It was then the police decided to stick posters with his pictures along the highway, which lead to him being traced.

"A local electrical shop owner spotted him and alerted the local Inspector. The Inspector had asked the electrical shop owner to take a picture of the patient and send it to him, which was duly done," Jeyakumar said.

Soon a police team arrived at the spot where the patient was sitting. An ambulance to transport the patient was called.

"The patient has just been sent to Villupuram in the ambulance," Jeyakumar said.

Now the other issue is to trace the contacts of the Covid-19 patients.

The hospital had discharged four persons by mistake on the same day.

Three of them were locals and were traced and brought back to the hospital soon after the mistake was noticed. But the Delhi youth was not traceable.