15 Covid-19 positive Mumbai returnees sent home in Hamirpur

SHIMLA: In utter disregard of all Covid-19 SOPs, officials of Hamirpur district of Himachal Pradesh sent home 15 Mumbai returnees on Wednesday late afternoon without waiting for their report, which confirmed them to be virus-positive late at night.

Hamirpur is a hotspot with 93 positive cases, the highest in the state.

The returnees, among 43 others kept at an institutional quarantine centre at Bhoranj in Hamirpur district, were asked to go home by the officials. When they received their report at night and discovered that the 15 persons had tested positive, they started tracing them in panic.

Hamirpur deputy commissioner Harikesh Meena then asked chief medical officer, SDMs and other officials to act fast and all 15 patients, including 11 men and four women, were brought back to the dedicated Covid care centre at Hamirpur by 3am.

The DC said, "An inquiry has been ordered. They are Mumbai returnees who were kept in institutional quarantine."

Meanwhile, Bilaspur administration sealed the town on Thursday after a Himachal Roads Transport Corporation bus conductor, who kept meeting people even during quarantine, tested positive on Wednesday evening.