Covid fear: Resident locked in apartment

South Africa returnee had quarantined himself for a week

In a sign of how things might turn out in the event of a localised outbreak of the Covid-19 disease, people living in an apartment complex in Filmnagar in Banjara Hills, locked up a person in his house fearing that he was infected with coronavirus on his return from abroad and would spread it in the community. This, even though the person Aditya Sambyal, a fashion designer, not developing any symptom since his return from South Africa on March 13.

Narrating his ordeal in on Twitter, Mr Sambyal said: “Residents in my building have locked my apartment from outside assuming that I am carrying Coronavirus, though I have no symptoms. I have been constantly monitored by health officials over WhatsApp, phone calls and through in-person

visits. But my society people instead of helping these guys are making it

worse (sic).”

Speaking about his travel history, Mr

Sambyal said: “I returned from South Africa on March 13. It has been a week in selfquarantine. Now, each time I need to receive a food or ration delivery I have to call these people first and they send someone to open door.”

He added that he had lodged a complaint with the Banjara Hills police. They turned up at the apartment but didn’t take action, he alleged.

His complaints on Twitter had the desired effect later in the day with the police saying that the situation has since been resolved. Banjara Hills inspector Kalinga Rao said: “We received a complaint through Dial 100 and our patrol reached the spot and explained to the other residents in the complex about the situation and cleared myths about the disease and asked them not to lock him up.”

Mr Sambyal later tweeted that the issue had been resolved.