CHENNAI: An IIT-M research scholar playing ‘truth or dare’ with her friends created a scare on board a Chennai-Coimbatore bus saying she was a Covid-19 patient, sending her co-passengers into panic and the state public health workers into a tizzy on Friday. Later traced to her campus and taken to the directorate of public health, she was let off with a ‘stern’ warning.The woman, Sujitha, later told TOI, “I was just playing with my friends. I did not realise the ramifications. Please don’t take this seriously.” She told officials that her friends, who were in a car tailing the bus, dared her to say she was Covid-positive and stop the bus.On Friday afternoon, the state nodal officer and joint director of public health received a call from a man saying his co-passengers on a bus had announced that she tested positive for Covid-19 three days ago. When she coughed, some passengers screamed, some called the state helpline and a few others called the state police control room. “As soon as we got the call we asked the bus driver and conductor to wait on the road,” said Dr Sampath P, joint director of public health (epidemic control). “He halted the bus near Melmaruvathur.”Eyewitnesses told police that Sujitha was on phone with her friends throughout the journey, and when the bus crossed Perungalathur, she asked the driver to stop the vehicle. When he refused, her friends, who were following the bus, challenged her to play the prank. “That’s when she announced that she was infected. During inquiry she told us that the bus ride and the lie were all part of the game they were playing. She was asked to dare,” the official said.A team of health department officials, including the deputy director of public health from Chengalpet and a medical team from Acharapakkam primary health centre, rushed to the spot. By then Sujitha had got into her friend’s car and left. The officials disinfected the bus, offered passengers hand sanitisers and counselled them.Later, police and state health officials took the address and contact details she had given to the transport company while booking the ticket. “We asked her to come to the DMS office for inquiry. When she refused, we told her we would have to initiate criminal action against her,” said another senior health official.Meanwhile, a team of officials were at the IIT because they received a call that one of the visiting professors staying on campus had symptoms of Covid-19. “We went there but realised it was not true,” a senior official said. By around 5pm, Sujitha appeared before the directorate and tendered an unconditional apology. She was let off by the health department with a ‘stern’ warning.