The district administration is on a wild goose chase to trace a local resident who appeared for COVID-19 test but left behind the Deputy Commissioner’s phone number in his contact details.
The individual suspected to be from Hebbal went to the local health authorities for the test on Saturday and filled the details, including his contact number.
Sources said the test results on Sunday showed up as positive and the control room promptly called the number provided by the individual and broke the news to him. “You have tested positive and should undergo quarantine,” said the person at the control room.
But the call was received by Deputy Commissioner Abhiram G. Sankar who was for a minute taken aback and identified himself and questioned what it was all about.
Verification of details
This baffled the personnel at the control room and the district health authorities who immediately dug into the details of the individual who had appeared for the test, verified his address as provided at the time of being tested and then discovered that the contact number that was registered against his name, was that of the Deputy Commissioner.
Mr. Sankar, who confirmed the incident, said someone had apparently done so and the identity of the person was yet to be ascertained. He later said the individual was identified as a primary contact and not positive and it was being verified.
Contact tracing issues
Whether it was a deliberate act of mischief to evade quarantine is not clear. If so, the address given should be bogus too. But a senior MCC official said it may be an inadvertent error while noting down the number that may have led to the confusion or else the person would not have come for the test in the first place.
However, other sources in the district administration averred that of late many people were playing truant and withholding details, switching off their mobile phones and creating hurdles in contact tracing.
