Amid rising number of coronavirus cases, what has emerged as a major concern for Haryana is the 'untraceable' positive patients tested by private labs. The first district to have rung alarm bells is Faridabad which has reported 50 patients who have given fake addresses and mobile numbers while giving their samples. After launching a tedious search for them, the district has gone ahead filing FIRs under Section 188 against them.
Speaking to THE WEEK, District Magistrate Yashpal Yadav said that while 40 people were found to have faked their addresses to get tested in Faridabad, verification is on for 10 others.
“These cases were reported from private labs where these patients gave fake addresses and mobile numbers. We have issued notices to labs asking them to start testing on the basis of mobile OTP patterns and get a permanent address IDs of those being tested. We have found that 40 people never belonged to Faridabad and gave fake local addresses while the other 10 are yet to be traced,” said Yadav.
Faridabad has reported most number of positive cases, after Gurgaon. Interestingly, 70 per cent of the people, who tested positive in these NCR districts, have been tested by private labs. Even Gurgaon had a few days ago issued notices to these labs for conducting tests without following the ICMR guidelines.
Haryana on Monday recorded 406 fresh cases and nine deaths. Gurgaon, as usual, was top of the chart with 243 new cases, leading to panic among the residents. There has been a widespread demand for re-imposing of lockdown as Health Minister Anil Vij claimed that state went on to ‘Unlock’ only on residents’ demand.
“People were constantly demanding it, so we went for Unlock One. The rising numbers are an issue of concern,” said Vij.
