A 40-year-old Sudan national staying at a hotel in Colaba has become untraceable after testing positive for coronavirus, Colaba police said on Wednesday. The police have registered an offence against the foreign national and the hotel owner for conducting coronavirus tests without permission.
During the COVID-19 test, the Sudanese national had mentioned the hotel as his residential address in the metropolis, an official said.
The incident came to light on Saturday when a private lab informed the civic authority that a Sudanese national staying at Kishan Hotel in Colaba has tested positive for COVID19. When the civic officials went to the hotel to isolate the foreign national, the hotel owner told them that the foreign national left in April itself. When the officials attempted to contacted him over phone he did not answer the calls.
When the civic officials asked Kisan Hotel owner asked about the COVID19 test he told them that the tests were conducted by a private lab at Agabegh hotel which is located above Kisan hotel. As many as 59 Sudanese nationals underwent tests at the hotel on July 23 and the Sudanese who tested positive came from another hotel to get the test done, said an official.
When the civic officials confronted the hotel owner Rahim Turk, he failed the give any satisfactory answers. No permission was taken for conducting the tests from the civic authority nor were they intimated about the tests, said a police officer.
Following the complaint, the Colaba police booked the hotel owner Turk and the Sudanese national for lockdown violations and under the Epidemic Act. We have given a notice to the hotel owner while the search for the Sudanese national is underway, said a official from Colaba police station.
