india

Updated: Mar 23, 2020 18:09 IST

The Odisha government has booked four people, including a couple, in three districts for breaking house quarantine rules and moving out of their houses, officials said on Monday.

Police in Bhubaneswar lodged the complaint against the couple for allegedly violating the house quarantine norms, after returning from abroad. A man in Cuttack, who had returned from the US, was forced into a government quarantine centre after he went to a market.

Highlights They were booked under several sections of the Indian Penal Code

All four were moved to government quarantine centres

Out of 76 samples tested so far in the state, two have been found to be positive

The couple and the man were booked under sections 188, 269, 270 and 271 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) on Sunday.

Another person from Sambalpur district, who had recently returned from Uzbekistan, was also sent to a government quarantine on Sunday after he was found violating the quarantine guidelines.

Sambalpur Police registered a case against the person under sections 188 and 271 of IPC.

PC Chaudhury, the commissioner of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, said the couple went to malls to do buy provisions though they should have been staying at home for 14 days.

“The health officials had checked on the couple through routine questioning and found that they did not adhere to the guidelines of home quarantine. So they have been brought to the government quarantine centre at Yatri Niwas,” said Chaudhury.

So far, there are 15 people in the two government quarantine centres as well as three hotels designated as quarantine facilities in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar.

Officials said 104 of the 3474 people, who had registered themselves with the government portal and helpline after returning to the state from abroad after March 4, have been identified for violating the restrictions of home quarantine.

The state government has already asked local district administration or municipal administration to conduct a local inquiry and move them to government quarantine if they are found violating the conditions.

In Odisha, 76 samples have been tested so far of which two were found to be positive.

Meanwhile, a human rights activist lodged a case before the National Human Rights Commission against the medical superintendent of AIIMS Bhubaneswar for hiding the travel history of his son who was found Covid-19 positive.

The 19-year-old son of an AIIMS, Bhubaneswar medical superintendent was found to be infected with Sars-Cov-2 on March 19, a day after he returned from the United Kingdom where he studies.

The human rights activist Akhand alleged in his petition that the medical superintendent, who is also the nodal officer of coronavirus disease in AIIMS, concealed the travel history of his son who was admitted in the AIIMS isolation unit and kept in doctors room.

“It was both medical and administrative negligence on the part of the medical superintendent that he did not reveal he was in direct contact, thus risking the spread of Covid-19. It gross negligence on the part of the functionary to conceal his son’s travel history,” Akhand stated in his petition.

He also demanded action against the superintendent and Dr Sourin Bhuniya, in-charge of isolation unit of AIIMS.

“This had an impact on IMS and SUM Hospital, a private hospital in Bhubaneswar as a number of its doctors working there stayed in the same housing complex where the patient stayed before testing positive,” Akhand said.

Though AIIMS director has denied any lapse on part of the medical superintendent, the Resident Doctors Association of the hospital has in a mail blamed the superintendent for trying to conceal the details of the patient.

“We don’t know how much secondary or primary contacts the patient has made. We need to shut down all elective OPDs and operations for the safety of everyone working and visiting AIIMS Bhubaneswar,” they wrote in an e-mail.

Meanwhile, the Orissa High Court on Monday suspended hearings till March 31 with immediate effect and said no further case listing will be made up to March 31.