Son’s sacrifice for civic sense Man admits himself to hospital after coming back from Doha

Lino Abel

K.M. Rakesh , TT, 15 March 2020, Bangalore: A young man’s conscientiousness in following the coronavirus protocol prevented him from attending to his ailing father, for which he had flown in from abroad, and even from paying his last respects when the elderly man died.

Lino Abel, 29, a commercial photographer who works in Doha, on Saturday received public praise from the Kerala chief minister for his “civic sense” in admitting himself to hospital immediately on touchdown when he suspected he could be a carrier.

Further good news came on Saturday: he had tested negative for the novel coronavirus. But Lino said he didn’t know whether to celebrate the clean chit or feel sad that the false alarm had robbed him of a last meeting with his father and even the chance to pay his last respects.

“Now I don’t know whether to laugh or cry,” he told The Telegraph over the phone from his hospital bed late in the afternoon.

Lino’s behaviour stands in sharp contrast to that of a family of three that had arrived from Italy on February 29 and walked out of Kochi airport, allegedly ignoring the announcements for arrivals from coronavirus-hit countries to report to the health desk.

For six more days they had kept quiet despite developing symptoms, the government says. By the time the matter came to light and they were admitted to hospital, at least eight relatives and friends had become infected and the family had allegedly made more than 100 other “contacts” by visiting shops and social events.

Lino had flown in on March 8 morning after learning that his 70-year-old father, a heart patient, had fallen off his bed and was fighting for life in the intensive care unit of the Government Medical College in Kottayam.

The young photographer did not have fever when the health desk at Kochi airport examined him upon his arrival on an Air India Express flight.

But during the 50km ride home to Thodupuzha, which lies midway between Kochi and Kottayam, on a cousin’s motorbike, he realised he had developed a cough and a sore throat.

He did not visit home — lest he infect anybody — and went straight to Kottayam where he got himself admitted, around noon, to the isolation ward of the same hospital where his father Abel Ouseph was being treated.

Abel passed away around 10.30pm the same night after a heart attack. Lino was denied a last look since protocol demanded that he remain in isolation.

“I had volunteered to get isolated since I had a cough and a sore throat. But I never thought I would not be able to see my father,” Lino said.

“I asked if I could see my father’s body, but was told it would be too risky since I was a suspected carrier. I could only watch from my window as his body was driven out in an ambulance after the post-mortem (on March 9).”

He couldn’t be at the funeral, either.

On Saturday, after receiving his negative test report, Lino said he had no regrets about having chosen to go into isolation. “What if I really had coronavirus? That’s how I’m consoling myself,” he said.

He added: “I was told I would be discharged today. But my big worry is how to step into my home and face my family.”

After reaching Thodupuzha on March 8 morning, Lino had got off his cousin’s motorbike and, instead of visiting home, “called a friend and asked him to drive me to the hospital in his car”.

“Before that I ensured both of us wore the N95 masks I had bought from a pharmacy in Thodupuzha,” he said. “I had arrived from Doha wearing an ordinary hospital mask.”

His elder brother Linto Abel said the family was waiting to see Lino.

“We are really sad that Lino could not see our father. But we are so proud that he showed so much concern for everyone by getting hospitalised,” Linto told this newspaper.

Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan acknowledged Lino’s “big sacrifice” and lauded him for showing concern for others.

“A young man came to visit his father. But he thought he had covid (covid-19). So he was naturally kept in isolation,” Pinarayi commented in a video message posted on the state government’s Facebook page on Saturday.

“But, then, his father died and he could not see his father who was so near him. It was his civic sense and responsibility that led him to make this big sacrifice.”

Late in the evening, Lino told this newspaper he had reached home and had received a warm welcome.

He said that even after the negative test, protocol required him to spend 22 days in home quarantine in addition to the 6 days he had been in an isolation ward.

The cousin who rode the motorbike, the shop assistant who sold Lino the masks, and the friend who drove him to hospital are under home observation as his “contacts”.