KOZHIKODE: Asymptomatic COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) persons, who had recently been to China or other corona-affected countries and kept in mandatory 28-day home quarantine, are violating health protocol by freely mingling with outsiders. When TNIE spoke to half a dozen of these persons, five of them revealed they had indeed ventured outside the confines of home and met people. However, most of them lied about the actual date on which the home quarantine started -- claiming they had completed the 28-day period. But health officials were able to prove that they had made up the dates.
Their side of the story
Even persons, who stay put at home, brazenly violate the health protocol. “I am an asthma patient. I twice went to a private hospital for getting an injection and nebulisation. On the third visit, they made it clear I can’t do it there since I am in quarantine and suggested that I visit a government hospital instead. But I chose to return home and got it done (nebulisation) myself,” said a girl, 19, who is studying medicine at Sichuan University in China. According to her, she had gone out and met friends and relatives as the quarantine period had got over. But her health records with the local primary health centre shows she was put in quarantine as late as on January 29.
Similarly, a 20-year-old youth doing medicine in China was driving his vehicle when TNIE called him. He said, “Quarantine period was like a prison term and I’m greatly relieved that it is over.” But it emerged that he was put in quarantine only on January 23, which means there is one week more to go.
A 22-year- old woman, who had been in China along with her husband, revealed she had visited a bereaved family here. She had been quarantined along with her three-year old son on January 24. Similarly, a 33-year old, employed as purchase manager in China, said he is still in home quarantine. “It is like jail. I was stationed in China, some 1,000 km from Wuhan, the epicentre of Covid-19 outbreak. Unable to confine myself indoors, I had gone out in my car but did not mingle with people,” he said.
All of them revealed they didn’t adhere to health protocol. “How can you stay away from visiting friends and relatives?” said one of them.
‘14-days enough’
Malayali medical students from Chinese varsities make up a chunk of those in home quarantine and they are at pains to convince family members and relatives that the 14-day quarantine period is more than enough. “The globally accepted norm is 14-day quarantine. Twenty-eight days are a bit too much and it affects one’s mental condition. The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the US and European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC) have stipulated 14-days,” said a home quarantined medical student.