The decision of the State government to extend the isolation period for COVID-19 suspects from 14 to 28 days has landed almost all MPs from the State in a bit of quandary.
With the lockdown being strictly enforced, all the MPs were confined to their homes.
The 14-day self-isolation order of the Health Department was to end on Tuesday and it was on Friday that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said all who had returned to the State after March 22 would have to sit back home for 28 days.
“We are a bit puzzled over the fresh announcement. I returned from Delhi on March 23 after the Parliament session ended. I am in isolation at my home as per the first guideline which prescribed 14-day isolation. On Friday, we heard the Chief Minister saying that all those who arrived from abroad or other States after March 22 should be in isolation for 28 days,” said N.K. Premachandran, MP, said.
Shashi Tharoor, MP from Thiruvananthapuram, is in Delhi as he failed to return after the Parliament session ended.
Speaking to IANS, Kasaragod MP Rajmohan Unnithan, who is staying put at his home in the State capital, was restless as he was worried about his constituency. “I returned here on March 23 and along with me in the flight were other MPs K. Sudhakaran, Hibi Eden and Mr. Premachandran. In Kochi, where the flight stopped, a team of cleaners appeared and when I asked the airline cabin crew what’s happening, they said there was a complaint about some passengers coughing and sneezing. Later, when I landed in Thiruvananthapuram, I understood the situation,” said Mr. Unnithan.
The lone CPI(M) MP, A.M. Ariff, said he would soon get in touch with the Chief Minister’s office about the confusion over the isolation period.
“Though we are unable to step out of our house, we are hooked up on our mobile phones, making calls as we Malayalis are spread across the globe and there is an issue everywhere which requires attention of the authorities,” said Mr. Ariff.
