West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on March 18 urged people returning from abroad to remain under home isolation and not to visit malls or parks where they can come in contact with others.
The remarks of the Chief Minister came in the context of the first positive case of COVID-19 was reported from the State late on Tuesday evening. An 18-year old student, son of a Home department official, returned to the city on Sunday and tested positive after 48 hours.
During the two days, the student was not under isolation and went to a State-run hospital before giving samples for testing. His mother attended office at the Secretariat on Tuesday where she is said to have interacted with several officials of the department.
Home Secretary, wife in self-quarantine
This development triggered panic in the Secretariat with not only the office of the bureaucrat being sanitised but also Home Secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay going into self-quarantine. He did not report to work during the day. His wife Sonali Chakravarty Banerjee, Vice-Chancellor of the Calcutta University, is also under home isolation.
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“I request everyone who comes from abroad. Please do a test. You should isolate as per WHO guidelines. No VIP culture will be tolerated…[if] you are having symptoms and behaving irresponsibly, it’ll be highly irresponsible of you as you’ll infect thousands”, Ms. Banerjee said at an event at the Secretariat.
The incident created huge uproar in social media with many demanding a thorough probe. “I should be aware that I am coming from somewhere where the disease has spread, why should I not be responsible?” the Chief Minister said, referring to the incident. “Why will I not undergo the tests. Why will not isolate myself,” she said referring to the student testing positive.
Ms. Banerjee said so far 95,000 people had returned to Bengal after the crisis from foreign countries.
She said some channels are running fake news to create panic and said an FIR would be registered against them. While she did not specify what the fake news was, she said the Kolkata Police Commissioner must look into the case seriously.
