The government’s changing stance on quarantine rules has caused anxiety among passengers who arrived in Bengaluru from other states. Quarantined in institutions, many of them are complaining that the authorities are not testing them despite repeated requests.
The state government on Friday decided to discharge inter-state passengers after seven days if they test negative for Covid-19 and allow them to be quarantined at home. But many passengers who arrived in Bengaluru from Delhi on May 17 have not been tested yet.
DH spoke to passengers quarantined in two different hotels and found that more than 30 of them were not subjected to the first Covid-19 test even seven days after the arrival.
“Many of us want to go home and have been requesting the authorities to test us. We fear that any one of us may be carrying the virus and will spread it to people in our hometowns,” said Adeeth Cariappa, a resident of Kodagu, who arrived from Haryana and who is quarantined at a hotel near Ramaiah Hospital.
Cariappa and 13 others held a protest for three days by not paying the daily hotel rent. “We protested against the substandard food and the delayed testing. Two days later, a woman came and did a thermal check on us. None of us has been tested for COVID-19 even now,” he said.
A 23-year-old woman from Somwarpet, who is quarantined at a hotel near Kumara Park, narrated a similar story.
“There is a complete lack of coordination among the authorities. They all give different information. We were told that the first test would be done by the fifth day. But there has been no information even after we completed seven days,” she said.
Ravi Kiran and 12 others, who arrived by the same train, convinced the officials to send them to Hassan the next day, saying they cannot afford the hotel tariff in Bengaluru. “We were tested within hours of arriving in Hassan district. But there was no coordination among officials in arranging our accommodation. We finally managed to get a decent quarantine centre in Arkalgud after spending two days in the district hospital,” he said.
To a question, Bengaluru Urban District Health Officer Dr Srinivas G A promised the tests would be conducted on Sunday.
“The tests in the district administration limits have been completed. We will coordinate with officials if there are delays in the quarantine centres in the BBMP limits,” he said.
A senior official, however, said that the BBMP had been struggling to complete the Covid tests due to a shortage of lab technicians and a high number of people put in
quarantine.
Deccan Herald is on WhatsApp Channels| Join now for Breaking News & Editor's Picks