Escaped COVID-19 patient located

A COVID-19 infected patient who ran away from the Infectious Diseases Hospital (IDH) in Mulleriyawa early today, was located near the National Hospital, Colombo by two of its staff members a few hours later and was taken back to the IDH safely, Police said.

Police Spokesman Jaliya Senaratne told a news conference that security forces including army, intelligence services and police acted swiftly to locate the patient who had run away within a short period of time to ensure that he did not mingle with the society.

“Hospital authorities had confirmed that the patient had escaped from the Hospital at about 2.00 a.m. and several army, police, army intelligence services, and state intelligence services were deployed to locate the patient soon after being informed of the incident. Every step was taken to ensure that he was captured in a short time to prevent any risk of the disease being spread into society. The patient's identity was published in electronic and social media which helped to locate him in a short time,” he said and thanked all those helped to capture him quickly.

SSP Senaratne said the patient was identified as Mohammed Kasim Mohammed Nasim, a 41-year-old from Marble Beach Road, China Bay in Trincomalee and who had been undergoing treatment at the Kandakadu Drug Rehabilitation Centre for drug addiction before being transferred to IDH for treatment for COVID-19.

He said according to information received by the Hospital, the patient has jumped through a window of the ward and then climbed out over the hospital wall.

Explaining on how the patient was located, he said two staff members of the Colombo National Hospital had noticed a person identical to the person in the photo shared by the police entering the hospital and had informed hospital authorities about the person.

“The hospital authorities had acted swiftly and had provided protective clothing and isolated the person. Then he was taken back to the IDH safely,” he said.

SSP Senaratne said IGP has decided to give a special cash reward to all those who assisted in locating the patient.

He said investigations being carried out to trace the places the patient had visited by using technical methods such as CCTV camera footages and through other ways and added that the security forces and health authorities had confirmed that there was no threat of the disease being spread to the society.

“The patient had travelled to the National Hospital in a three-wheeler and police is getting information from the three-wheeler driver on the places he had visited. This patient must have escaped in a bid to obtain drugs,” he said. (Ajith Siriwardana)