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Samples of suspected COVID-19 patient who killed self at hospital weren’t collected: Health Ministry

The health ministry said the man, who was living in Sydney, arrived at the Delhi airport on Wednesday.

Samples of suspected COVID-19 patient who killed self at hospital weren’t collected: Health Ministry

A medical worker wearing protective gear takes a rest as he waits for ambulances carrying patients infected with the COVID-19 coronavirus at an entrance of a hospital in Daegu on February 23, 2020. - South Korea raised its alert on the coronavirus to the highest level on February 23 after reporting three more deaths and 169 new infections. The country has seen a rapid surge in the number of coronavirus cases since a cluster of infections emerged from a religious sect in the southern city of Daegu. (Photo by - / YONHAP / AFP) / - South Korea OUT / REPUBLIC OF KOREA OUT NO ARCHIVES RESTRICTED TO SUBSCRIPTION USE

The samples of the suspected coronavirus patient who allegedly committed suicide by jumping off the seventh floor of the Safdarjung Hospital in the national capital, were not collected for testing, a senior health ministry official said on Thursday. The facts in the case are not yet known and an inquiry into the matter has been initiated by the hospital administration, the official said adding that samples of a deceased are not tested.

The health ministry said the man, who was living in Sydney, arrived at the Delhi airport on Wednesday. At the airport, he reported headache as ”chief complaint” in his self-reporting form.

He was brought to the Safdarjung Hospital by the airport authorities and immediately put in the isolation ward, hospital sources said. The health ministry said that on reaching the hospital around 9 pm on Wednesday, he was taken to the seventh floor for evaluation.

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When doctors reached there, he wasn’t found. Meanwhile, another doctor while coming out of the building at 9.15 pm observed a body lying at the ground floor, the statement said. While police said he was 35-years-old, the health ministry statement said the man was 23-years-old.

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