Wrong info makes tracking patient movement difficult

TNN | Mar 24, 2020, 04.40 AM IST

Madurai: With district officials facing difficulties in tracking the movement of the 43-year-old male Covid-19 patient admitted to the isolation ward at Tirunelveli medical college hospital (MCH), collector Shilpa Prabhakar Satish on Monday urged the people to follow home quarantine more strictly.

The collector told TOI that though the patient is showing improvement he is still undergoing treatment at the isolation ward. “I spoke to the patient. His symptoms had reduced compared to Sunday and he was able to communicate without difficulty. We are making all efforts to not miss any person who may have been in contact with him and quarantine them,” she said. However, sources said that local district officials were apprehensive when putting together the patient’s contact history.

“The whole purpose of putting together contact history is to ensure that infection doesn’t spread even by mistake. However, on investigation and cross-verification, it was found that the patient may have been staying for four days at a hotel room though the patient himself has insisted till Monday morning that he had been just staying with one friend at a room in a village,” a source.

The source from the health department further added that whatever information the patient gives for contact history could not be 100% accurate or trustworthy, so it has been difficult to track his movements. So far, the co-passenger of the car by which he came to Tirunelveli from Madurai and the friend staying with him have been quarantined as a precautionary measure.

On the other hand, Madurai district health officials said that the patient was screened on March 17 at Madurai airport. “He was not symptomatic then, so we advised home quarantine as per protocol. I urge the public to be more responsible when in home quarantine and immediately seek medical help if any symptoms of Covid-19 appear,” said Dr P Priya Raj, deputy director of health services, Madurai.