BBMP’s flip-flop on test results leaves family of eight fearful

BENGALURU: After being told that their throat swab samples had tested negative for Covid-19, a 32-year-old woman from Bengaluru and eight members of her family travelled to Ramanagara to attend a wedding. Imagine their shock then when BBMP officials called them up and said they were all, indeed, infected.
The ordeal for Amita (name changed) and her family began on June 19 when a cousin spiked a fever and complained of discomfort in breathing. She was taken to hospital the same day and her swab sample was collected. On June 20, she was declared positive.
Amita and her cousin are part of a joint family of over 10 people living under the same roof. The entire family was declared primary contacts and they also got themselves tested at Victoria Hospital on June 20.
“The hospital did not tell us the results immediately and made us wait for three days. Finally on June 23, after making repeated calls, we were told that we all tested negative,” said Amita. “None of us were told to stay in quarantine nor were we hand-stamped. Thinking we were out of the red, we all came to Ramanagara to attend a wedding. On Monday [June 29] we got a call from BBMP saying we are all positive. Now we are all confused and don’t known which result to believe.”
Amita went on to say, “We have met about 200 people and the call on Monday has left us all worried. We are not sure how many we might have infected. We are also very worried about our children and aged relatives whom we interacted with.”
R Ganesh (name changed), Amita’s brother in-law, told TOI, “For the past week, BBMP didn’t do anything and on Monday, we got a call. There has been no follow up calls on what next. We don’t even know if we should go back home or not.” The family was still in Ramanagara till Tuesday evening.