Fifty-year-old Rukmini Devi (name changed) of Rohtas district in Bihar was taken aback when a team of Health Department officials reached her house to convert the area into a containment zone and take her to a quarantine centre.
On enquiry, the officials explained it to her that they were merely following the SOP in a Covid-19 positive case. Still puzzled, the woman asked: Who is coronavirus positive in my house?
"You". Pat came the reply of the Health Department official.
Shocked, the woman told the health mandarins that neither she had any coronavirus symptoms, nor she had ever visited to a health centre for testing, nor any health staff has ever collected her swab samples.
Hugely embarrassed, the officials retracted after realising their faux pas.
"It could be a human error by the data entry operator or the concerned clerk," said the in-charge medical officer of the primary health centre, Dr Sudhir Kumar.
But this is not an isolated case. More such reports are pouring in from across the state.
In Katihar district in eastern Bihar, a person was declared Covid-19 negative without undergoing the mandatory sample test. The matter came to fore when the person concerned Ramesh Prasad narrated his story. Ramesh was unwell and apparently had coronavirus symptoms. So, he deemed it fit to get his swab sample tested.
After making rounds of hospital for three days, he was eventually asked to get himself registered by mentioning his name and mobile number. He was then asked to come for test on July 20. However, even before he could be examined, he was informed on his phone that the test shows he was coronavirus negative.
Such reports have raised a question mark on the veracity of the tests being conducted. "In the Rohtas case, we have ordered an inquiry to find out whether it was really a human error or a sinister design to defame the government," said a senior Health Department official.
Meanwhile, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav slammed Nitish Kumar regime for such goof-ups. "Those who have not been tested, are being given Covid-19 reports. What is going on?" tweeted Tejashwi in Hindi.