Tamil Nadu Hunts Man Out Of Hospital After Suspected "Clerical Error"

Coronavirus: People walk in an area with circles marked for social distancing in Chennai (AFP)

The Tamil Nadu Police are looking for a man from Delhi who was discharged after he tested negative for COVID-19 due to a "clerical error". The man has gone missing from Villupuram district and a massive search is on to find him, the police said.

He was discharged on Tuesday as test results showed him negative. The authorities later desperately wanted him and three others who were discharged to be readmitted. While three were brought back to the isolation ward, the man from Delhi is still missing.

Sources have said a clerical mistake led to this confusion and the danger of spread of COVID-19 infection.

"We are not clear if successive tests showed different results for them or there was any clerical error that led to the confusion," a police officer in Villupuram told NDTV.

Reports said the police have shared a photo of the missing man to trace him.

Earlier this week, the authorities at Stanley Medical College Hospital in Chennai were blamed for a lapse after they handed over the body of a COVID-19 patient, who died before test results came, to his family.

Unaware of the danger, at least 50 people had attended the funeral, exposing themselves to possible COVID-19 infection. Although the authorities say the family was alerted and told to follow guidelines, the family denied that claim.

The number of people infected with COVID-19 in Tamil Nadu has reached 738, with eight deaths; 21 including an elderly woman have recovered. At least 679 patients are those who attended an event organised by an Islamic sect in Delhi's Nizamuddin, where many were tested positive.