Around 80 people who had come out defying Thursday’s statewide lockdown at Kaliachak in Malda were intercepted by policemen and escorted to a centre for their antigen tests.

This move made many loitering around rush home and helped the health department get random samples for the antigen test to know the extent of Covid-19 transmission.

Following a steady spike in Covid-19 cases in Kaliachak, the health department opened a camp in Chowringhee, a prominent crossing in Kaliachak.

Till afternoon, technicians at the camp collected samples from 250-odd persons, one-third of them lockdown violators.

A police officer said that among lockdown violators, one tested positive for Covid. “It was learnt that he is from Ratua (also in Malda district) and had come to Kaliachak during the lockdown without any reason,” the policeman said.

In Alipurduar, a patient at the Covid hospital in Tapshikhata on the town’s outskirts fled and hid in a bush nearby.

People who spotted him gave him food and told the police. Policemen and a doctor tried to persuade him to return to the hospital, but the man refused, citing poor services at the hospital. The police informed his family who took him home. He was advised home isolation.

“He is comorbid, hence was in hospital,” said a health department source.