For three days, mother and son stranded at bus stop as Telangana village denies entry

The residents of the village said they could only enter after they got their COVID tests done – however, the district hospital reportedly delayed the testing.
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A mother and son duo had to spend three days at a bus station outside a village in Telangana's Kamareddy district as people allegedly denied them entry fearing that they may be infected by coronavirus. The incident happened in Jangampally village of Bikkanur mandal in Kamareddy district.

The two of them had returned from Hyderabad where her COVID-19 positive daughter delivered a baby at Gandhi Hospital. When they arrived in the village on June 29, the local residents insisted that they come after undergoing tests for coronavirus. The mother and son duo pleaded with the locals that they would stay in home quarantine for two weeks as they were not showing any symptoms, but to no avail.   

With no option left the duo went to the bus station, which was almost deserted as authorities are only operating a few bus services due to restricted movement of people.

The incident came to light after the duo recorded a video, detailing their plight.

In the video the woman said that her pregnant daughter from another village had come to see her in March but was stranded due to lockdown. She developed labour pains on June 26 and was shifted to the government hospital in Kamareddy town. Since she had COVID-19 symptoms, the hospital authorities referred her to Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad.

The woman along with her son took her daughter to Hyderabad. As she tested positive for COVID-19, she was admitted to Gandhi Hospital, the nodal centre for treatment of COVID patients. She delivered a child, who too tested positive. 

In the video, the woman said that they went to Kamareddy hospital on June 30 to give their sample for COVID-19 test but the authorities asked them to come the next day.

"We kept roaming and roaming trying to get a test. No one paid any heed to us for two days," she said.

"In Jangampally, a lot of people were asking us to stay away from them and saying that no one else got it, and only I had it. Even if I don't have coronavirus, I felt that I would have died due to the mental torture that they were doing. It is just due to fear and nothing else," she added.

On the third day, officials of the Health Department and police intervened and conducted tests on the mother and son. They also convinced the locals to allow them to stay in a government-run school building in the village.

Officials said the test results of the duo were expected in a day or two.

IANS inputs

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