A 26-year-old man undergoing rehabilitation from drug addiction fell to his death from a Meghalaya hospital that was sealed on Monday night after a doctor there tested positive for COVID-19 .
Police in Meghalaya capital Shillong said the man died on the spot after falling from a considerable height from the window of Bethany Hospital early on Tuesday morning. He was from Mawkyrwat in South West Khasi Hills district.
“We are yet to find out how or why he died. He might have tried to escape the detoxification regimen or panicked after the hospital was sealed,” an officer of the local Laitumkhrah police station said.
On Tuesday night, the State’s Health and Family Welfare Minister Alexander L. Hek said officials have been instructed not to let any patient undergoing treatment exit the hospital premises. The entire hospital was turned into a quarantine camp with the senior doctor who tested positive being isolated.
Soon after the doctor tested positive, a 48-hour curfew was clamped across East Khasi Hills district and the adjoining Ri-Bhoi district. Shillong is in East Khasi Hills district.
State Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma said the State government has so far tested 90 samples of people who came into contact with the said doctor. “About 200 people had come into direct contact with him, while another 1,800 secondary contacts have been identified so far,” he said.
