Agra: Father of woman, whose husband tested positive for COVID-19, booked for misleading authorities

The father of a woman, whose husband tested positive for coronavirus in Bengaluru, has been booked by Agra police for misleading authorities about the whereabouts of his daughter, a suspected COVID-19 patient, officials said on Sunday.

An FIR was registered at the Sadar police station on a complaint by the health department under sections 269 (unlawfully or negligently doing any act which is, and which he knows is likely to spread the infection of any disease dangerous to life) and 270 (malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), district administration officials said.

According to the officials, the woman and her husband returned from their honeymoon in Europe earlier this month and landed in Mumbai. From there they went to Bengaluru, where her husband who works for an IT company tested positive for novel coronavirus and was hospitalised.

The woman then left for Delhi and later came to her parents' house in Agra. She allegedly did not cooperate with the health department officials for a coronavirus test despite being "highly suspected".

"When a health department team reached the residence of the woman on March 13 for query, her father told the officials that she was not there and had left for Delhi in a train and would eventually fly back to Bengaluru.

"Officials immediately tried to track the concerned train and also informed the district administration about the situation and the matter was also reported to Uttar Pradesh government officers," according to the FIR.

"Meanwhile, the officials suspected that the woman was still in Agra and the information given to them was only to mislead and unnecessarily trouble them. The woman was eventually tracked down in the city," the complaint stated, adding that it is a widely known fact that coronavirus is highly contagious.

The woman's test report is awaited, the health department officials said.

Eleven others with suspected exposure, whose samples were collected in Agra on March 12, have tested negative for coronavirus, they said.

The number of coronavirus cases in the country rose to 107 on Sunday. Uttar Pradesh has reported 11 positive cases so far, the Union Health Ministry said.