A man from Mangaluru, who fled the isolation ward of a hospital before he was tested for COVID-19, was traced by health authorities on Monday evening.
"We have traced him to his home and isolated him. His samples were taken for testing. He is cooperating with authorities and there is no issue," Dakshina Kannada Deputy Commissioner Sindhu Rupesh told TNM.
He had flown in to Mangaluru from Dubai on Sunday night. He was screened at the Mangaluru International Airport before he was taken to the Wenlock District Hospital for testing. Health officials in Dakshina Kannada said that he had a mild temperature but he was not showing symptoms of COVID-19.
The man had an argument with officials at the hospital and refused to allow his samples to be taken for testing. He told doctors at Wenlock District Hospital that he will get tested at a private facility. Sources in the Health department stated that he was irked by the fact that he was treated like a patient and taken to the hospital in an ambulance. His passport was photocopied before he fled the hospital around 9 pm on Sunday.
A missing persons case was registered against him on Monday morning at the Pandeshwara police station. Surveillance teams tracked the man's relatives and eventually found him in his home on Monday evening.
Dakshina Kannada DC Sindhu Rupesh confirmed that he was found by authorities and had agreed to cooperate so that his samples are tested.
Earlier, an official at Wenlock District Hospital had told TNM that the man had given in writing that he does not want to be tested in a government hospital and that he wants to get himself tested at a private facility.