A woman, who had returned from Europe last week and admittedto a hospital here with symptoms for coronavirus, left the facility for homeafter stray dogs entered her ward, her family said on Thursday, refuting theadministration’s claim that she had escaped.
“The claims of the administration that they had trackedher are nothing but lies. We had to take her out of the Chest Disease Hospitalat Dalgate at 3 am as there were stray dogs in the ward where she wasadmitted,” a relative of the woman told PTI.
He said the woman had cooperated with the authorities eversince she returned home.
“She was checked at the airport and asked to go home.We kept her in isolation but she developed some symptoms on Tuesday and wecalled the COVID helpline. An ambulance arrived and she was taken to the CD hospitalwhere she was admitted,” he said.
The relative said the woman called home around 2.30 am onWednesday night, saying she was scared as several stray dogs had entered theward.
“We tried to convince her to stay but she was a nervouswreck. Finally, we went to hospital and brought her home,” he said.
The family contested the claims of the officials that theyhad tracked her down.
“We took her to SKIMS hospital on our own in themorning around 8.30 am where she is currently admitted,” he added.
The family also contested the claims of some doctors at theChest Disease Hospital that samples were collected from her.
“If they had collected any samples, where are thereports then?” he asked.
The relative said while the government was issuing advisoriesagainst revealing the names of those suspected of having the coronavirus, allthe details about the woman were leaked to the media.
“You name the locality where she lives and the countryshe came from. And then expect no one will know who she is. Are they sonaive?” he asked.
An officer in the cyber crime department urged people not toreveal identity of coronavirus positive cases — living or dead — on socialmedia.
“Please don’t share names and pictures of #COVID2019suspects, positive or fatality. This act of yours attracts legal action. Behavesensibly and responsibly,” Kashmir cyber police officer Tahir Ashraftweeted, adding “Putting such information openly on social media platformsis punishable under law”.
After a radio jockey posted on Twitter the alleged escape,Deputy Commissioner of Srinagar Shahid Iqbal Chaudhary had responded by saying”Tracked. Admitted again. Legal action to follow.”
The deputy commissioner did not respond to repeated calls toseek his comment on the allegations levelled by the family.
The administration claims that more than 150 persons,accused of hiding travel history, have been traced and admitted to variousquarantine facilities.
“Control Room traced 152 undeclared cases of persons returned from UAE, Iran,Hungary,Taiwan,Malysia, Combodia, Italy,Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Malaysia,Kazakhstan. Put under quarantine.We continue to request people to come forward and self-report. Help docs,Urself,family & society,” Chaudhary said in a tweet.