Woman who fled quarantine centre after arriving from UK tests positive for COVID-19 in Andhra

VIJAYAWADA: A woman from Rajahmundry in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh, who arrived from the United Kingdom and reportedly fled a quarantine centre in Delhi to reach her home town, was shifted to an isolation ward at the Rajahmundry government general hospital. The woman has tested positive for COVID-19.

The woman went to the UK last year and returned to Delhi on December 21 night. After her samples were collected, she was shifted to a quarantine centre from where she disappeared and boarded a train to Rajahmundry on December 22 along with her son who went to Delhi to receive her.

Officials in the national capital alerted their counterparts in Andhra who tried to contact the woman and her son but their phones were switched off. Based on the passport details, the woman's address was traced to Hukumpet in Rajahmundry and a watch was kept at the house.

Simultaneously, anticipating that she might have boarded a train to reach Rajahmundry, a watch was kept on people arriving by the Delhi-Visakhapatnam AP Express. The mother and son were traced and once they arrived at Rajahmundry railway station, they were shifted to an isolation ward in the government hospital.

On Thursday, RT-PCR tests were conducted on the duo and the mother tested positive for the virus. Health Minister Alla Kali Krishna Srinivas said the swab samples of the woman will be sent to the National Institute of Virology, Pune, to ascertain whether she contracted the new strain of COVID-19 that is virulently spreading in the UK.