<p class="title">The presence of a 67-year-old Bengaluru-based COVID-19 patient’s presence in a Dubai-Goa-Bengaluru flight on March 9 has caused a controversy in the coastal state. </p>.<p class="bodytext">On Wednesday, former tourism minister Francisco Pacheco, who was also on the same AI-994 flight as the Bengaluru-based woman, alleged that the efforts made by the BJP-led coalition government’s health ministry to quarantine him because of his presence on the flight were politically motivated. </p>.<p class="bodytext">“I will not go to quarantine because there is no reason for it. This is political vendetta because I am campaigning against the BJP candidates in the Zilla Panchayat elections,” Pacheco told reporters here. ZP polls in 50 constituencies are scheduled to be held on March 22. </p>.<p class="bodytext">The former minister also said that he had managed to evade efforts of three medical teams sent by the health ministry to his residence to quarantine him on Wednesday. </p>.<p class="bodytext">“They came with ambulances to quarantine me. How can I have have Coronavirus when I was in the fourth row of the flight and there was no passenger for five rows around me,” Pacheco said. </p>.<p class="bodytext">Earlier, Health Minister Vishwajit Rane created a stir, when he said that a politician was among prominent people who were in the same flight as the Covid-19 patient. </p>.<p class="bodytext">“Around her, there were prominent people. A team has gone to trace and quarantine them. It is important to do so. Everybody is equal. It is to do with the lives of the people,” Rane had said. </p>.<p class="bodytext">Forty-three passengers alighted from the Dubai-Goa- Bengaluru flight at Goa’s Dabolim International Airport on March 9, out of whom 30 have been home-quarantined and efforts are being made by the health department to trace eight other passengers. Goa has not reported a single confirmed Covid-19 case yet, according to Rane. </p>
<p class="title">The presence of a 67-year-old Bengaluru-based COVID-19 patient’s presence in a Dubai-Goa-Bengaluru flight on March 9 has caused a controversy in the coastal state. </p>.<p class="bodytext">On Wednesday, former tourism minister Francisco Pacheco, who was also on the same AI-994 flight as the Bengaluru-based woman, alleged that the efforts made by the BJP-led coalition government’s health ministry to quarantine him because of his presence on the flight were politically motivated. </p>.<p class="bodytext">“I will not go to quarantine because there is no reason for it. This is political vendetta because I am campaigning against the BJP candidates in the Zilla Panchayat elections,” Pacheco told reporters here. ZP polls in 50 constituencies are scheduled to be held on March 22. </p>.<p class="bodytext">The former minister also said that he had managed to evade efforts of three medical teams sent by the health ministry to his residence to quarantine him on Wednesday. </p>.<p class="bodytext">“They came with ambulances to quarantine me. How can I have have Coronavirus when I was in the fourth row of the flight and there was no passenger for five rows around me,” Pacheco said. </p>.<p class="bodytext">Earlier, Health Minister Vishwajit Rane created a stir, when he said that a politician was among prominent people who were in the same flight as the Covid-19 patient. </p>.<p class="bodytext">“Around her, there were prominent people. A team has gone to trace and quarantine them. It is important to do so. Everybody is equal. It is to do with the lives of the people,” Rane had said. </p>.<p class="bodytext">Forty-three passengers alighted from the Dubai-Goa- Bengaluru flight at Goa’s Dabolim International Airport on March 9, out of whom 30 have been home-quarantined and efforts are being made by the health department to trace eight other passengers. Goa has not reported a single confirmed Covid-19 case yet, according to Rane. </p>
