‘Baby Doll’ singer Kanika Kapoor hid her travel history, may have infected hundreds

An educated and aware person, logic would dictate, should strictly adhere to guidelines at a time when the world is combating a lethal pandemic. In a country like India, where although the numbers seem to be seeing a steady rise as of now, lapses of any sort on the part of either citizens or authorities would literally translate into an explosion of Coronavirus cases in the country, especially in the urban pockets which house nucleated settlements.

Kanika Kapoor, the ‘Baby Doll’ fame returned to India on March 15^th, from London and has tested positive for COVID-19. She then headed to Lucknow on a family visit. Mind you, 15^th March was the last day when Indians arriving from Coronavirus affected countries could declare their return, failing to which they would be subjected to mandatory 14-day quarantine. However, Kanika bypassed all such procedural requirements at the airport.

Upon arriving in Lucknow, she threw a party at a five-star hotel where politicians and bureaucrats formed a major part of the audience. Apart from this, she also attended three other parties in Lucknow and came in contact with 350 to 400 people, her father told Aaj Tak. India Today reported that she refrained from informing authorities about her travel history, colluded with some authorities on ground and hid in the washroom to escape screening. Authorities and medical teams are in a tizzy as to how they have to now quarantine an entire luxury apartment facility in Lucknow, apart from determining the sea of people which Kanika came in contact with, and isolating them too. It is being reported that one of Kanika’s neighbours has also tested positive. Further, it is fear that Kanika’s rendezvous might just trigger community transmission of COVID-19 Coronavirus.

Kanika Kapoor’s behaviour is nothing less than criminal, and she and the officials who were complacent in hiding her travel history and helping her dodge due procedure at the Airport ought to be brought to the book as well. The worry, apart from community transmission, is that Kanika may just be the reason that parliamentarians may have contracted the virus, as politicians had joined her party in Lucknow. MP Dushyant Singh and the son of former Rajasthan CM, Vasundhara Raje were reportedly present in the party, and are currently under self-isolation. Vasundhara Raje has also isolated herself.

Currently, Kanika Kapoor has been admitted at a facility in Lucknow’s King George Medical University. She is one of the four cases which have been reported from Uttar Pradesh today.

At a time when common sense and a spirit of societal duty should prevent people from gathering in large numbers, Kanika Kapoor attended a series of parties and herself threw one in the city’s premier hotel. It is this complacency which PM Modi warned the nation against is his yesterday’s address. The lackadaisical attitude of these entitled Bollywood stars and politicians is what puts the country at risk. Pray tell me, which heavens would fall if these parties would not be cancelled, and the fun could be given a miss in the larger good of society?

At a time when countries like Italy are recording over 450 deaths everyday, all decent humans should isolate themselves and stay at home, and give their extravagant social plans a pass. Kanika Kapoor somehow did not understand the tremendous potential of this virus to spread like wildfire, courtesy which she has endangered potentially numerous lives, reaching up to the Parliament.