Gujarat CM self-isolates after meeting MLA who tested coronavirus positive
On Wednesday, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani decided to self-isolate himself after meeting a Congress MLA who tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Tuesday. The BJP leader took the idoneous decision and will not meet anyone for at least a week, his office said. However, he will oversee the state's operations through video and phone calls, his secretary Ashwani Kumar informed.
MLA of one drastically impacted area visited Rupani
The MLA who tested positive is Imran Khedawala of Ahmedabad. In the past couple of days, he was on the field trying to control the situation in his constituency of Jamalpur-Khadia, which is coronavirus-hit. Besides Rupani, he also met Gujarat's Deputy CM Nitin Patel and MoS (Home) Pradipsinh Jadeja. Dariapur MLA Gyasuddin Sheikh and Danilimda MLA Sailesh Parmar were also present at the meeting.
Social distancing was followed, but not other rules
According to a report in Ahmedabad Mirror, Imran met the CM and ministers around 1 pm. Pictures from the meeting showed he didn't cover his mouth or nose with a mask. While social distancing was maintained at the meeting, there's little clarity if the attendees came closer at any point. At around 3:30 pm, another meeting was held in the same conference room.
In second meeting, top brass of task force was present
The second meeting was attended by the entire brass handling the COVID-19 situation in the state. DDO Mahesh Babu, Collector KK Nirala, CP Ashish Bhatia and Chief Secretary to CM, K Kailashnathan, attended the meeting. Later, the CMO said it was wrong on Imran's part to meet Rupani when he had already taken the COVID-19 test. The MLA is now admitted to Gandhinagar's SVP hospital.
Imran's samples came from field, said hospital official
The hospital also explained why Imran was not put under quarantine earlier. "We quarantine all those who are admitted here when we take samples for COVID-19 testing. However, we have no data of those who come from the field. This sample came from the field," said Ramya Bhatt, the CEO of the hospital. Notably, Rupani is doing fine and is asymptomatic.
No outsider is allowed at Rupani's residence
"Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani is fit and fine. Medical experts Dr. Atul Patel and Dr. RK Patel tested him today and have confirmed that CM has no symptoms for now. But as per safety measures, no outsider is allowed at his residence," Kumar said.
