Slum cordoned off due to mistaken identity

Anjaya Anparthi | TNN | Apr 15, 2020, 04:12 IST

Nagpur: Entire slum in Wadi area was cordoned off for almost 24 hours because of mistaken identity of one of the nine Covid-19 positive patients detected on Monday. The barricading was, however, lifted on Tuesday night after realizing the mistake.
The collector’s office had ordered cordoning off Ambedkar Nagar slum situated on Amravati Road in Wadi area on Monday night.
The collectorate, which looks after rural parts of the district for containing Covid-19 spread, reportedly received information from one of the testing laboratories about a person being found coronavirus positive. The officials zeroed in on a name as one from the list of 44 persons who were traced and quarantined between April 1 and 5 in connection with Delhi Markaz incident following orders of the ministry of home affairs.
The authorities ‘identified’ the positive person from Ambedkar Nagar and immediately the slum was barricaded and policemen deployed.
Later, the collector’s office and Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) verified and found that the positive person was in fact one of the relatives of Satranjipura Covid-19 victim and not from Ambedkar Nagar. As both the persons were having same name, it had led to confusion.
After realizing the goof on Tuesday, the collectorate ordered the police to remove barricades and police personnel from the slum.
In the meanwhile, there was panic in Wadi and adjoining areas throughout the day as several women from the slum work as housemaid, while many sell vegetables and fruits on Amravati Road.
As of now, only one of the 56 Covid positive persons from the district is from rural parts, that too from Kamptee.