Coronavirus affected family blames Kerala government A family member alleged that they had informed the immigration desk at Kochi airport that they had arrived from Italy

Passengers undergo a thermal screening test in the wake of novel coronavirus scare at Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport in Guwahati on Monday, March 9. (PTI)

K.M. Rakesh, TT, 10.03.20, Bangalore: A member of a family the Kerala government accuses of concealing their coronavirus risk status and endangering people has alleged they had informed the immigration desk at Kochi airport that they had arrived from Italy but no one stopped them from leaving.

Airport and administration officials have dismissed the charge and alleged the family had developed symptoms after their arrival on February 29 but continued their silence till infections to their neighbours blew their cover on March 6.

The state government had on Sunday said a middle-aged couple and their 24-year-old son had arrived from Italy via Doha a week ago but left Kochi airport without informing the coronavirus helpdesk, and then travelled 200km to their home in Pathanamthitta.

Protocol required everyone arriving from countries hit by the novel coronavirus to report to the helpdesk, and the government said it might consider criminally prosecuting “irresponsible” people who ignore such instructions.

On Monday, the couple’s son uploaded an audio message on social media, from the isolation ward of Pathanamthitta Government Hospital where the family is admitted, blaming the airport authorities.

“This happened because we did not get any direction from the airport immigration office,” says the audio, which introduces the speaker as Rijo Monsy. It also denies reports that the family had attended a wedding and visited their parish church in Pathanamthitta.

A source at Kochi airport told The Telegraph that the immigration desk is not the helpdesk, which international passengers encounter immediately after entering the terminal and before they reach immigration.

“A prominently displayed banner and repeated announcements had made it clear that passengers from coronavirus-affected countries must report to the helpdesk,” he said.

S. Suhas, collector for Ernakulam district where Kochi is located, said the family should have filled in a form, entering details of their travel and any ailment, and submitted it to the helpdesk.

Another claim made in the audio was that coronavirus infections had not yet spread to Italy when the family arrived in Kochi.

“This is not correct,” the airport source said. “A large number of cases had been reported in Italy at least a week before they left the country.”

A novel coronavirus case was first reported in Italy on January 31, with the number starting to balloon from February 21-22.

Kochi airport clarified on Monday that the family had arrived on February 29 and not on March 1, as some government sources had earlier said.

Pathanamthitta collector P.B. Nooh alleged the family had developed symptoms at their home in Ranni but failed to report to a government health centre. “They didn’t inform health officials for seven days, that too after repeated appeals from the government. Had they done that, we could have avoided such a big scare,” he said.

Nooh accused the family of misleading health officials even after two relatives, who lived next door to them, developed fever and visited the Pathanamthitta Government Hospital on March 6.

“When officials from the (local) public health centre spoke to (the young man) over the phone, he said the family had visited the (nearby) Mar Thoma Hospital but only to buy anti-hypertension medicine for his mother,” he said.

From the hospital, the officials learnt that “they had bought Dolo (paracetamol, used for fever and body ache) from the hospital”.

“Then our medical officer called again and asked about the purchase of Dolo. Only then he revealed that he had throat pain and that his mother had fever,” Nooh said.

Health minister K.K. Shailaja had said on Sunday that the family had “refused to get treated and said there was nothing serious” and that “our healthcare officials had to forcibly take them” to hospital.

Their blood samples tested positive on March 7 night, and the administration began a hunt across several districts to trace all those who may have come in contact with them since their arrival in India.

Nooh conceded that this was not the time for a blame game but said the current situation could have been avoided had the family cooperated from the beginning.

From March 3, Kochi airport had made coronavirus screening mandatory for every arriving international passenger, which has now been extended to all domestic passengers too.