Coronavirus | Forced to stay in car for five days despite testing negative for COVID-19

Villagers’ apprehensions and stigma attached to the disease are to blame for my fate, he says.

Even after home quarantine and testing negative for the coronavirus (COVID-19) infection, undue fear and stigma have compelled Madhab Patra (25) to spend the last five days in his car parked at the Temporary Medical Centre (TMC) at Basudevpur under the Sanakhemundi block in Odisha’s Ganjam district.

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He was allegedly prevented from staying at his home at Dolaba, his parental village. And to avoid the threat of getting infected from those staying in the TMC, he has preferred to remain cocooned inside his car parked on the campus.

Mr. Patra owns a digital printing unit in Berhampur. He had travelled to Bihar on March 15 for some work. The series of lockdown declarations got him stranded there for more than one and half months. He returned to Berhampur on May 9 and immediately reported to the Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC) regarding his arrival.

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Mr. Patra told The Hindu over phone that as per the directive of the BeMC, he had remained in home quarantine in his apartment here. “My swab was collected on May 10 for test, which was later found negative.” As the cyclone approached, he requested the authorities to let him go to his village to stay with his parents.

But when he reached Dolaba, he had to face the stigma despite having the negative test report. According to Mr. Patra, husband of an anganwadi worker, the villagers started harassing his father over his return. It led to an altercation and tussle that reached the Patapur police station. “I and my family members for no reason had to apologise to all. And interestingly I was ordered to go into institutional quarantine despite the fact that I had tested negative and had spent home quarantine period,” he said.

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Mr. Patra preferred to obey the order and reached the Saraswati Sishumandir School at Basudevpur that has been turned into a TMC. “But I feared that there was a possibility of getting infected from the inmates. So, since the past five days I have preferred to spend my time of compelled institutional quarantine within the locked doors of my car parked in the premises of the school,” he said.