A 23 year old MBBS student who returned from China was found having a mild fever on 2 February 2020 by the medical team but she denied medical help saying prayers will be sufficient.
The young woman preferred staying at home and even when one of the students of her district was tested positive of the novel coronavirus, she refused to receive medical help and violated the protocol.
The officials who are tracking the people returning from China found that one of the women is missing, while tracing her they contacted her asking to follow the medical protocol when she blatantly refused and contended that prayers will keep her safe.
Hearing her reasons officers went straight to her residence in the City Corporation limits. The student and her family after a counseling of 3 hours agreed for medical help. The officers explained further legal provisions, the non-abidance of which would lead to an arrest.
District Collector S Shrinivas on February 1, 2020 said, “anyone refusing treatment can be arrested under the provision of disaster management mitigation”.
The provision under Section 269 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) states that-
“Whoever unlawfully or negligently does any act which is, and which he knows or has reason to believe to be, likely to spread the infection of any disease dangerous to life, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine, or with both.”
The person is liable for fine or imprisonment of 6 months or both.
V S Sunilkumar, Agriculture Minister confirming the statement said, “the student blood sample was sent for examination on February 28, after she was shifted to the Thissur Medical Collage Hospital."
Now even the family members of the woman have been kept in check and in proper isolation. Dr. K P Arvindam of Sastra Sahitya Parishad suggested to take strong actions against those who are not cooperating with the authorities.
The deadly coronavirus has infected a number of people, in India. In Kerala, the coronavirus has been declared a state disaster. The virus originates from a family known for containing strains that is responsible for causing deadly diseases. In humans it is spread through airborne droplets of fluid produced from infected people.
Some significant strains as that of Wuhan coronavirus (2019-nCoV) can cause Serious Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome can even cause death in human beings.
Symptoms
Apart from number of causes following are some general symptoms of the virus-
- Bad cold
- Runny nose
- Moderate upper respiratory problems
- Sore throat
To fight with such a deadly disease, the general public needs to exercise precaution and cooperate with medical protocol so as to prohibit further spread of the disease.
The spread has not slowed since the number of confirmed cases as reported on Tuesday (February 3, 2020) have been 20,438 in number. The death toll in China reached 425, an increase of 65 from Sunday (February 1, 2020). The World Health Organization declared Coronavirus as a Global Emergency.
Author: Aarya Mishra
