India: Drunk man steals PPE kit from a hospital thinking it was a raincoat, tests COVID-19 positive

Dubai: In a bizarre story going viral on social media, in India, this week, a drunk man stole a healthcare worker’s Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) kit from a Nagpur hospital thinking it was a raincoat, and ended up contracting COVID-19.

Twitter users are sharing news reports after his tests returned positive for the novel coronavirus.

According to local media reports, the man, who works as a vegetable seller fell into a drain, and was admitted to Nagpur’s Mayo Hospital for his injuries.

After he was given initial treatment, he was discharged from the hospital. But, as he left, he took along with him, a PPE kit from the hospital.

When he went home, he showed it to everyone saying it was a raincoat that he had bought for Rs1,000(Dh49).

People around him noticed that it wasn’t a raincoat, but a PPE kit.

The city’s health department officials were alerted, and they seized the protective gear from the man, and burnt it.

Following this, his sample was collected for COVID-19 testing, and the result came in positive.

Subsequently, the health officials traced and tested his primary contacts, including his family members, relatives and friends. Thankfully, all of them tested negative for the virus.