Itishree Misra (BOMBAY TIMES; March 22, 2020)

Kanika Kapoor, who is the first Indian celebrity to test positive for the novel Coronavirus, has been getting a lot of flak for allegedly not disclosing her symptoms and attending social gatherings instead of being in self-quarantine. However, the singer says that these speculations are not true. “I want to tell people that I’m not the irresponsible person I’m being made to look like,” Kanika told us on Friday, from the Isolation Corona Ward at the Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS), Lucknow.

‘HOW CAN I SKIP SCREENING AT IMMIGRATION?’
The singer said that she reached India late night on March 9 and was duly screened at the Mumbai airport for symptoms. “There are these silly rumours that I hid in the washroom to skip screening. Tell me, how is it possible for a person to skip screening at immigration? I was properly screened at the Mumbai airport and I stayed in the city for a day. But since everything was closed and no work was happening (because of the industry lockdown due to the coronavirus spread), my parents suggested I come home. So I reached Lucknow on March 11 by the morning flight. At that time there was no advisory issued by the government on anyone travelling from abroad to be under self-quarantine. So, how can one expect me to do it, especially when I had been screened and had no health issues till I left Mumbai? In fact, I developed the symptoms only four days ago,” Kanika explained.

She accepted that she did attend social gatherings and meet people, but until then, she wasn’t aware she may be infected with the virus. “I came to Lucknow and I met people. In fact, I’ve told the health department I’ll give them a list of all the people I’ve been in contact with. Apart from those I met in the last few days, I’m also concerned about my nani, who’s 98, and lives in Kanpur. She really wanted to meet me, so I went to Kanpur for a day to be with her.”

Kanika refuted rumours of her having hosted a party in Lucknow, calling them false news. She told us, “I never hosted a party. I attended a small birthday bash which Vasundhara Raje ji has also tweeted about. There were several politicians there, including Dushyant Singh, but it wasn’t as big a gathering as it is being made out. It was a small one where I was a guest, not the hostess. For this, too, I’ve given the health officials names of all those who were at the party.”

‘I WAS THE ONE PESTERING AUTHORITIES TO TEST ME’
Kanika further added that she was the one who insisted that health officials in Lucknow take her samples for checking. “I called my friend, who heads a local hospital to, get my blood samples checked for the virus. He suggested that I approach the state health authorities for it. When I called the helpline numbers, after hearing out my symptoms, they said it doesn’t seem like the Coronavirus, and it might just be the seasonal flu. But I kept insisting, and it was only after I pestered them that the CMO sent people to take my samples. I was the one who pestered the authorities, who I felt were taking things lightly. It took them three days to send someone to collect my sample and test it. From Monday till the time I was tested, I had confined myself to my room. The moment I felt sick, I called up the authorities. So tell me, who’s been lax?”

‘THEY ARE BEHAVING AS IF I AM A CRIMINAL’
Having been admitted to SGPGIMS, Kanika claimed the treatment meted out to her was appaling. “I’ve been here since 11am and all I’ve been given is a small bottle of water to drink. I’ve been asking these people to give me something to eat but I’ve only been given two small bananas and an orange. I am so hungry, I haven’t even taken the medicine that I was supposed to till now. I have fever, I’ve informed them, but no one has attended to me. The food I brought with me has been taken away. I can’t even eat anything that’s given to me as I am allergic to certain foods. I am hungry, thirsty and I feel miserable here,” Kanika told us from her isolation room on Friday evening. She added, “When I asked the doctor attending to me to have the room cleaned, he said it was not a five-star hotel. He said that the authorities are going to file an FIR against me for withholding information and not disclosing my illness. These are the kind of threats being given to me.”

Kanika alleged that she had only been given a paper blanket to keep herself warm and the room she’s staying in was quite dirty. She said, “It has mosquitoes and is full of dust. I am being ill-treated here and it feels like I’m in jail. They are behaving as if I am a criminal for no fault of mine.”