Complaints have emerged of errors in COVID-19 testing method adopted by the Belagavi district administration after a woman who had been released from institutional quarantine was found to be carrying the virus.
The 30-year-old woman from Turmuri village, who had been sent home from the quarantine centre, was declared positive for COVID-19 on Saturday. She had returned from Mumbai.
She spent two weeks in a village school along with 40 others. She was sent home on May 29, but the results arrived on May 30.
She has been shifted to the district designated hospital and her family and other primary contacts have been sent back to the institutional quarantine. Meanwhile, KPCC working president and MLA Satish Jarkiholi complained that the officials were not following proper standard operating procedure on testing. He alleged that nearly 600 persons were discharged from institutional quarantine centres in Agasaga and other villages, before their results arrived. “Of these,” he claimed, “two have tested positive.”
“What happens to the rest now? Will they be sent to institutional quarantine again? If this is what were to happen, why did the officials release them early? What will happen to those persons who met them after discharge? This behaviour of the officials is irresponsible and foolish,” Mr. Jarkiholi said.
Video clips in which local leaders of the BJP and the Congress distributed sweets to those discharged after their release were shared on social media. Two video clips made by youth from Belagavi city and Gokak complaining about the lack of facilities in institutional quarantine centres and about those discharged before test results came were shared on social media on Sunday.
Deputy Commissioner S.B. Bommanahalli said that he would inquire into such complaints and see that action is taken against officials if they are found guilty. He also said that the State-level standard operating procedure on testing will be clearly communicated to the officials in charge of quarantine centres. The procedure states that all non-symptomatic cases should be released after 14 days. “We will work towards speeding up the testing process and see that discharge of patients happens only after test results are out,’’ he said.
The district has fewer number of active cases than those discharged for over a week now. After 12 persons were released on Sunday, the total number of cured patients is 106 and active cases are 41. A total of 147 persons, including eight from Bagalkot, have tested positive for COVID-19 till now. One old woman with co-morbidities died.
