Surat returnee dies in home quarantine in Odisha

 A Surat returnee died while being on home quarantine at a village in Odisha's Mayurbhanj district on Thursday, police said. The migrant worker was identified as 54-year-old Sarat Chandra Mohanta of Bhalubasa village.

Mohanta had returned to Odisha from Surat 10 days ago and was put under institutional quarantine at Betnoti Adarsha Vidyalaya for 7 days. He was discharged from the institutional quarantine three days ago and advised home quarantine.

"The deceased, had no symptom of coronavirus. Suddenly he felt restless this morning and came out of the house and died soon after," Mohanta's family members said. His son works in a company in Surat.

Though the migrant worker had stayed at the quarantine centre for seven days after returning from Gujarat, the authorities had not collected his sample for coronavirus test, his family members claimed, which was confirmed by the in- charge of the centre and sarpanch of Nahandasole panchayat, Sumitra Majhi.

Ashok Kumar Nayak, inspector-in-charge of Betnoti police station said, a case of unnatural death has been registered and Mohanta's body was sent to PRM Medical College and Hospital at Baripada for post-mortem.

The villagers are reluctant to join the migrant worker's funeral, Nayak said. "The body will be cremated in accordance with COVID-19 protocol after a medical team from Baripada collects the swab," the inspector said.