Covid patients are providing inadequate or wrong personal details while undergoing tests, often making it impossible for health authorities to trace anyone who may have come in contact with them.
The problem is so acute that Ranchi deputy commissioner Chhavi Ranjan issued an appeal on Thursday, seeking everyone’s cooperation in helping the administration fight the spread of the coronavirus.
Ranjan said that of late, the district administration has been coming across several instances when it has been unable to trace a Covid patient. “That’s because of wrong phone numbers, incomplete or vague addresses given by persons while filling forms before a Covid-19 test, be it at a private or public lab,” he said.
“Hence, it is my earnest appeal to everyone to be responsible and provide full residential details and a phone number, including an alternative number, before giving samples at any lab so that in the event of he/she testing positive, we can rush them to hospital immediately,” Ranjan said, adding that combating Covid-19 was everyone’s responsibility,
Ranjan said the administration had increased testing capacity to detect as many people as possible to curb the spread of the virus. “But over the last few days we have been facing immense problems in tracing infected persons,” he said.
The deputy commissioner did not divulge the number of such untraceable cases, but sources said at least six patients had provide incorrect or inadequate details in the last few days. “If this persists, the administration will have to resort to strict measures, like filing FIRs, against such people,” said a health official.
Notably, while holding a meeting with private labs authorised to conduct Covid-19 tests, Ranjan had asked all of them to ensure that relevant details of anyone coming for a test were collated. These details, he had said, were to be communicated with the administration if any of those people tested positive.
As per the state government’s Covid-19 bulletin alate on Wednesday night, Ranchi had close to 2,000 active cases. As many as 25 Covid deaths have been reported so far.
