A medical team has sealed the village of the 52-year-old man found to be Covid-19 positive on Thursday in the district here, deputy commissioner Bhuvnesh Pratap Singh on Friday said, and ruled out sending the patient to RIMS, Ranchi.

DC Singh told the media that a district with the Hazaribagh Medical College and Hospital (HMCH) was “capable of treating a coronavirus patient and there was no need to send him all the way to Ranchi”.

The DC added that the man would soon be shifted to private hospital HZB Arogyam Multispeciality Hospital in Hazaribagh town, which, along with the HMCH, had been selected to treat coronavirus patients by the state government.

He said that health department officials were actively sanitising the entire village, dividing it into sectors and screening villagers to check for infections.

In a news conference organised at the district collectorate on Friday morning jointly with SP Mayur Patel, Singh said existing patients undergoing treatment at Arogyam would be shifted to some other hospital.

“I’ve had a talk in this regard with hospital owner Harsh Ajmera,” the DC said.

He said it was a matter of relief that they got information in time about the patient and was immediately sent in isolation at the HMCH after his return from Asansol, Bengal.

“But we are trying to know whether anyone came in contact with him at his village,” the DC said. “If we come across anyone with Covid-19 like symptoms, we quarantine him or her for 14 days. But if a healthy person comes in contact with a Covid-19 patient, we quarantine that person for 28 days,” he added.

He said that the HMCH was now fully activated for treatment of the coronavirus patient. But pregnant women, infants and children who come to HMCH for check-ups will now be routed to a private hospital named Sriniwas in the town area near NH-33.

He added they would get 12 ventilators, eight funded by the NTPC. “But not all coronavirus patients need ventilators,” he said.

SP Patel asked people not to target any specific community in their posts on social media. “We are monitoring such posts and will lodge FIRs against such irresponsible persons under Jharkhand Epidemic Diseases Regulation Act and relevant sections of the IPC,” he said.

He said the police had a “clear-cut instruction” for people. “Do not reveal the identity of the coronavirus patient on social media. Just think about the patient who is already under stress. Revealing his or her identity on social media will add to the tension of the patient and family,” the SP said.

The SP added that many people had revealed the identity of the Covid-19 patient on Thursday on social media platforms but had deleted them after being warned.