District collectors of Ernakulam and Pathanamthitta have trashed the self-righteous version the Italy returnees have put out on WhatsApp.
The son in the three-member family that returned from Italy with COVID-19, said in a WhatsApp message posted on Monday that they were not given proper instructions at the Kochi airport. “We would have directly reported if we had received proper guidance at the airport,” he said in his message.
“It is impossible,” is how Ernakulam collector S Suhas responded to the family's version. He said a protocol was in place, and set of procedures were mandatorily followed. “Announcements are routinely made during flights saying that whoever coming from Italy or China or other worst-affected countries should fill a form and submit it to the airport help desk. If they have not done the form, they would be told to contact the immigration desk from where they would be taken to the help desk,” Suhas said.
The Collector said the officials at the airport had strictly followed procedures. “If any mistake had happened, it would have happened on the other side (on the part of the family),” the Collector said.
The son's side of the story is that they had no idea about the intensity of COVID-19 when they boarded the Qatar Airways from Italy.
“At that time, the virus had only started to spread in Italy. So we did not have a clear idea about it. At Kochi airport, we told that we were coming from Italy, and that I was returning after four years. Also, they could have easily found that we had boarded from Italy just by looking at our passport,” he said.
He also termed as “fake” the reports that his family had not told authorities they were from Italy. “In fact we told them everything but they allowed us to go without giving us any directions,” he said.
Pathanamthitta collector P B Nooh also found his defence highly shaky. “They landed in Kochi on February 29 and their whereabouts were revealed only on March 6 when a relative of theirs was taken ill. It was after that the health inspector from the primary health centre called up the family,” Nooh said.
Even then they said they had visited a hospital only to buy some medicines for the head of the family's mother's hypertension. The district administration cross-checked and it was found that besides the medicine for hypertension, the family had also bought dolo, a common drug used for fever. “Why would they buy dolo if it was for hypertension they visited the hospital,” Nooh asked.
Nooh also found it strange that the family kept their travel history hidden even when it was well known that China and Italy were the worst affected countries. “The instructions asking people who had returned from Italy to report to their nearest medical officer were also everywhere. No one could have missed them,” Nooh said.
The Collector said a serious situation could have been avoided had the family promptly informed authorities. On March 9, health minister K K Shailaja had said that the family had hidden the fact that they had returned from Italy. She called it irresponsible behaviour. The minister was so furious that she even said that the government would criminalise such secretive behaviour.
However, there was some cheerful news in what the patient had said. He said the family had not visited any church or function or marriage as had been widely said. There were even photographs of the family standing with newlyweds at a marriage function.
“All that is fake news,” the patient said. “We did visit close family members in our own vehicle,” he conceded. “Those under observation are our close relatives,” he added.
Nooh, too, confirmed that the family had not attended in crowded functions after their return.