Escape from Jashore hospital: 7 recovered Covid-19 patients released on bail

Seven recovered Covid-19 patients, who were among 10 to escape from Jashore General Hospital while still infected with the virus, were granted bail after being arrested earlier today.

Jashore Judicial Magistrate Mahadi Hasan granted their bail application at 4:30 pm today, reports our Jashore correspondent quoting Court Inspector Kamruzzaman.

Earlier in the day, police arrested the seven and produced them before the court after an arrest warrant was issued against 10 Covid-19 patients wo had escaped from the hospital, said Jashore Additional Superintendent of Police Mohammad Touhidul Islam.

They had tested negative for Covid-19 twice and were arrested while being discharged, said police.

The three others are undergoing treatment at the hospital. Of them, one returned from India and two were infected with Covid-19 locally.

They will be arrested after being discharged from the hospital, said police.

Those who were released on bail are -- Monimala Dutta (49), Milon Hossain (32), Nasima Akter (50), Vivekananda (52), Amirul Sana (52), Sohel Sardar (18) and Fatema (19).

Between April 18 and 24, seven returnees from India and three local Covid-19 patients were admitted to Jashore General Hospital. They then fled the hospital between the morning of April 23 and the afternoon of April 24. Later, the hospital authorities informed the police to take action in this regard.

The patients escaping from the hospital caused panic due to the new strain of Covid-19 identified in India, said hospital authorities.

Police identified the fleeing patients and re-admitted them to the same hospital through the health department.

On Saturday, Jashore Kotwali Police filed a non-FIR prosecution under Section 25 (2) of the Infectious Diseases Prevention (Prevention, Control and Eradication) Act, 2016.

Yesterday, a court issued an arrest warrant against them, said police.