Hotel owner in Hubballi takes out parade of 'COVID-19 survivor', booked

A owner of a posh hotel in Hubballi violated all the social distancing norms and seal-down rules on Tuesday by taking out a parade of a ‘person’, who is said to have 'recovered' from COVID-19 in a highly sensitive zone of Old Hubballi.

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An FIR against Metropolis Hotel owner, Ashraf Ali, who had organised the ‘parade’ has been filed at Kamaripet Police Station in Hubballi late in the night.

A video of the parade where tens of people are seen clapping and raising slogans to welcome a COVID-19 ‘recovered’ patient has now gone viral on social media. While it is claimed that the person in the video is P-194, a 27-year-old businessman from Mulla Oni who recovered from the COVID-19 and was discharged from Karnataka Institute of Medical Science, Hubbali on April 24, the district administration refuted claims and said that P-194 is still in the government facility and has not been let out.

Of the seven family members of the P-194 who are infected by the virus, six are still recovering at KIMS, the District COVID-19 centre. Eight of the nine COVID-19 cases in Dharwad district have been reported from Old Hubballi, and the parade on Tuesday was taken out in the same area.

Speaking to DH, Ali conceded that what he had done was a mistake. “I only wanted to help the youth go back to his home,” he said and added that he took P-194 from his hotel, where he was staying in quarantine, to his home to ensure that it is sanitised before other family members could return. “While walking to home, the residents of the area started cheering and clapping for P-194, ” he said.

Ali also claimed that he had urged people not to gather but they did not oblige.

While Ali said he accompanied P-194 to his house, speaking to DH, Deputy Commissioner Deepa Cholan claimed that the person in the video is not P-194. “P-194 is very much in our custody and is kept in the government quarantine facility. Strict action would be taken against Ashraf Ali for violating the seal-down norms,” she said.

It can be noted here that Ashraf Ali had volunteered to give all the rooms in the hotel to the district administration to convert it into the government quarantine facility.