In a terrible blunder, a senior level IAS officer of UP cadre was allowed to hold meetings and conduct other official duties after he went to Lucknow airport to receive his daughters returning from coronavirus infested Europe.
One of his daughters returned from Paris on 12 March and his other daughter returned from London on 18 March. As per protocol, both the daughters should have been kept in isolation for 14 days as they were returning from infection clusters.
But keeping all concerns at bay, the officer not only met both his daughters but thereafter came in contact with several other government officials.
None of them have been quarantined or have been tested yet as the UP government is grappling with a shortage of testing kits.
It is of utmost importance to ensure all those returning from the high infection clusters to be isolated from the rest of the population to prevent the rapid spread of the disease.
But with such laxity being shown by such senior level officers, the danger of community transmission now becomes very real. A threat that India looks ill-prepared to handle.
