He was just abandoned on a char

Local administration rescued an elderly person with Covid-19 symptoms left at a char of Jamuna in Pabna's Bera upazila on Monday.

The man was too sick to confirm his identity while the locals too could not recognise him, said Asif Anam Siddiquee, the upazila nirbahi officer (UNO).

Being informed by the locals of Char Safulla, the UNO along with some medical staff rescued the man on Monday evening.

Quoting locals, Asif said the man was abandoned in the char by a passenger boat on Saturday evening and nobody came close to him since then lest they should contract the virus.

"We are suspecting that his family members might have left him here as he showed Covid-19 symptoms," the UNO said.

He is currently being treated at the isolation unit of Bera Upazila Health Complex.

"He is suffering from fever, cough and other Covid-19-like symptoms," Sardar Milon Mahamud, medical officer of the health complex, told The Daily Star, adding that the man was suffering from chronic malnutrition due to starvation.

"We collected his samples on Monday night and sent them to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital for Covid-19 test," he said, adding that the person would be sent to Dhaka if he tested positive.