Lack of testing, quarantine violations cause for concern

Aparna Banerji

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, March 26

A 60-year-old woman who had been under quarantine for 12 days at Urban Estate in Phagwara died late last evening. The woman’s son had come from abroad 12 days ago. The patient was taken to Phagwara civil hospital a few days ago, but she was not tested and was only placed under home quarantine for having a travel history. In other cases, many have been hiding their travel history or contacts with people coming from abroad, making detection an uphill task.

At least two Jalandhar activists have taken up the cases of surveillance/action on NRIs with travel history with various authorities. Sanjay Sehgal, a Jalandhar-based activist, has been sending lists daily to the district administration and Ashok Sareen, a BJP activist, has written to the Union Government on the issue.

Sehgal said, “People are calling us and reporting patients who have not been tested for Covid despite having a travel history. I have received calls from people reporting at least two cases with UK and Australia travel history from Purian Mohalla, one from Ramneek Nagar and another from Lajpat Nagar. I have been sending such lists daily to the district administration. Some under quarantine might have met many people. They should be tested for Covid.”

Sareen, president, Yuva Shakti Sangh, has written to External Affairs Minister Jai Shankar seeking suspension of passports of those not reporting their travel history to the administration.

He wrote, “As we know in the past one month a large number of foreign and Indian nationals arrived in India from different parts of world. These people are not cooperating with the local administration and police are not able to trace them as they are hiding and are not coming out of their places. This puts other citizens in danger of getting infected by coronavirus.”