The police and the health officials in Villupuram district of Tamil Nadu have launched a manhunt operation to trace and locate a 30-year-old man who had tested positive for Coronavirus (COVID-19) as he has been absconding, reports say.

According to the reports, the man belongs to Delhi and he was admitted to the Villupuram Government Hospital on Tuesday. The medical team at the hospital had collected his samples for further tests and examinations. One of the samples returned negative for the virus on Tuesday night after which the hospital has discharged him. However, another set of samples turned out to be positive for the pandemic on Wednesday and the police department have now launched a manhunt to find him.

The district police department has installed three special teams to trace him and the officials have alerted Puducherry police. The reports stated that the government hospital had discharged four patients whose results confirmed positive for the virus on Wednesday and of these four, three have been located and kept under isolation. The district currently reported 20 positive cases including the four that were tested positive on Wednesday.

The police officials said that the health authorities informed about the development on Wednesday noon after which special teams were formed to locate the Delhi man. He was identified to be the native of Patel Nagar in New Delhi and, according to the reports, he had come to Puducherry last month for attending an interview and he was in Puducherry for a few days after which he arrived in Villupuram, where he stayed with two truck drivers nearly for seven days.

The Villupuram district administration has published his photograph as part of the manhunt operation and the administration has called the people to reach out to the Control room (04146 - 223265) if the Delhi man was seen anywhere. Villupuram currently has 20 positive cases and one fatality in its territory. On April 4, a 51-year-old man has expired in the government hospital where he was receiving treatment. He attended the Tablighi Jamaat Conference in Delhi last month and tested positive for the virus on March 31st, 2020.

As of Wednesday evening, the state has reported with 738 positive cases of which 709 are active patients, 21 have been recovered and discharged while eight have succumbed to the virus. These active cases include Indians and foreign nationals and getting treated across the state. Of 738, 679 people have attended the conference in Delhi.