Amid rising coronavirus cases in India, a Twitter post by a woman who returned from Spain and is under quarantine at the Delhi police training school in the National Capital Region's Dwarka raises concerns. With COVID-19 mushrooming into a global nightmare, the filthy and deplorable conditions under which suspected patients are being isolated by the authorities have raised many questions.
A series of videos tweeted by the woman, who goes by the name Navya Dua on the micro-blogging site, has exposed the lack of sanitised conditions at her isolation facility. The group of 40 people are being quarantined for 14 days. The rooms are in dilapidated conditions, while bathrooms are a far cry from being called hygienic.
"I land at Delhi airport dated 16th March 1:00 am KLM airlines from Spain. I am subject to the 14 day quarantine at a govt facility in Dwarka police training school. I won’t say anything I just give some videos of our *sanitised* accommodation... We are more than 40 people with only 3 washrooms and 5 large bed rooms. They want us to stay sanitised and this is what they give us. Guys this is a A MAJOR CONCERN. this way India cannot contain coronavirus only will get more cases (sic)," she said in a series of tweets accompanied by videos.
However, her posts did not go down well a section of Twitter users. Be thankful and stop complaining, some tweets suggested.
It is to be noted that Dua is not the only person who has complained about unhygienic conditions at government hospitals and isolation facilities in India.
On Monday, The Print had reported that more than 83 individuals who were brought back from Italy and are under quarantine in Manesar created a ruckus demanding better facilities, forcing the police to be called in. Many individuals have taken to social media to post pictures of poorly sanitised conditions under which the suspected patients are being, ironically, isolated and quarantined.
The family of the Agra woman who tested positive for coronavirus has also alleged that she refused to stay at the government hospital due to similar reasons. Following the refusal, the woman's father was booked or misleading authorities about the whereabouts of his daughter, a suspected COVID-19 patient.
With governments around the globe stepping up awareness efforts on the significance of personal hygiene and social distancing to check the spread of coronavirus, the questionable hygienic conditions of government hospitals will not serve the purpose of isolation and containing COVID-19. Instead, it will assist in further spread of the disease.