Surat: A 41-year-old man quarantined Tuesday for suspected novel coronavirus infection walked out of the civil hospital here in this town of Gujarat without giving his blood samples for testing, a senior official informed Wednesday.
However, after the hospital management informed district administration and the police about the incident, the man’s family members said he would return to the hospital to give his blood samples.
An official of the hospital said that the man left the facility without informing anybody, as he was ‘scared’, apparently of contracting the infection. The man had returned January 19 from China.
Meanwhile, samples of three of the total five cases of suspected nCoV infection in Gujarat have tested negative while result of two others is awaited. All of them had returned from China in the recent past.
“A man was admitted in the isolation ward of the hospital for suspected nCoV on Tuesday afternoon. However, before we could collect his blood samples, he slipped away. We have informed the district collector and the police,” said Priti Kapadia, in-charge medical superintendent of the hospital.
Kapadia also informed that a family member of the man met with the hospital authorities Wednesday and assured them that he would get himself admitted again for giving his blood sample.
“If he cooperates and provides his blood samples, we shall be able to prevent the spread of the virus in case his samples test positive,” Kapadia said.
Meanwhile in a separate development a health department official said they are following up with 622 of the total 769 passengers who had returned from China recently.
In Ahmedabad, we have followed up with 195 people, followed by Mehsana (70), Banaskantha (62), and Rajkot (47) stated the official.
PTI
