Lucknow in Lockdown: After Kanika Kapoor tests COVID-19 positive, UP capital goes into mass quarantine
The city of Lucknow has gone into a virtual lockdown since famous singer Kanika Kapoor tested positive for coronavirus. Kanika has reportedly attended a party in the Uttar Pradesh capital where as many as 180 guests were present. Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje was also present in the party and is now in self quarantine.
As per the latest orders of the Lucknow DM, all hotels, restaurants, cafe, and other eateries in the city will remain shut as the contact tracing in the city goes into overdrive.
The singer had flown down to Lucknow from London a few days ago, and had attended a lavish party where top politicians, bureaucrats and socialites were present.
The guests included, among others, Rajasthan MP Dushyant Singh, his mother and former chief minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia, UP health minister Jai Pratap Singh.
Jitin Prasada has quarantined himself at his ancestral house in Shahjahanpur, sources close to him say and the former minister's aide say that this is a lapse from the government that they allowed the singer to go without check and without mandatory self quarantine in the country.
The singer stayed at Shalimar Gallante in Mahanagar in Lucknow and now another person from the same building has been found positive, said sources.
The total number of guests in the party were over 100.
The singer had also been interacting with her friends in the high-rise building where her parents stay in Mahanagar area.
Medical officials are now unsure how to quarantine the entire building where the singer stayed and also subject the guests at the party to tests.
"Some people have started approaching us for tests but we still do not know how to make the VIPs undergo tests," said a doctor at the KGMU.
Meanwhile, Vasundhara Raje Scindia has tweeted that she and her son Dushyant – who incidentally attended Parliament after returning to Delhi- have self-quarantined themselves and are also taking all precautions.
Another guest, who did not wish to be named, said, "We did not know that Kanika had just returned from London or else we would have taken precautions. I have self-quarantined myself too."
There is fear in the state capital after four more people, including three men and one woman, tested positive for coronavirus in Lucknow on Friday.
Their samples were sent for testing on Thursday evening and the reports came on Friday morning. The spokesperson of King George's Medical University (KGMU), Sudhir Singh, said that all the four patients have been admitted to the isolation ward and their treatment has commenced. With the surfacing of the latest cases, the number of positive COVID-19 patients in Lucknow has gone up to nine now.
