Jharkhand: Two report COVID-19 positive “without” swab tests, probe ordered

Two people, who could not give their swab samples due to a long queue at a hospital, "tested positive" for COVID-19, while a BJP functionary was administered treatment for coronavirus at a government health facility for 10 days, only to discover that he had tested negative, a senior official said.

The two bizarre incidents have prompted the authorities to order separate probes, said Neelum Chaudhary, civil surgeon, Ramgarh, describing the issue as something "very serious".

The BJP functionary was admitted to a COVID care centre almost 10 days before the reports of his swab sample came out, the official said.

He was later informed that the report of his first swab sample was negative and discharged from hospital.

In another incident, a man and a woman had to return home after standing in a queue for hours at Sadar Hospital to give their samples, Chaudhary said. However, they later got a message that both of them tested positive.

"These are serious issues and probes have been intitiated to look into the matter," the official said.