LONDON: A Facebook Live video of a British Indian man claiming that his positive PCR test at the Mumbai International Airport was a “scam” due to which he did not attend the funeral of his father-in-law, attracted thousands of viewers across the world. Has been doing.
Manoj Ladwa54, born in Porbandar, Gujarat, who now lives in Staines in the UK, where he is a director of a construction company, is now in a COVID ward at Seven Hills Hospital in Andheri, initially telling staff at the Mumbai International Airport Despite leaving, he will not go there as he had no symptoms of covid and had tested negative before the flight.
According to Ladwa, the BMC staff refused to conduct the second PCR test before him and after a nine-hour stand-off at the airport along with 14 other passengers who tested positive from the same Virgin Atlantic flight, he was finally taken there. gone. His wife tested negative at the airport and went to the funeral alone.
The cost of a flight ticket for him and his wife is £3,000 (approximately Rs 3 lakh).
The BMC officials, on their part, said that they are following the COVID-19 testing norms laid down by the state government and the civic agency. As per the norms, travelers arriving in Europe including countries identified as ‘at risk’ by the government such as the United Kingdom are turned away on a priority basis to undergo RT-PCR test on arrival.
“If this sample is also positive, the sample collected for routine RT-PCR will be immediately sent for genome sequencing and the traveler will be directed for institutional quarantine. If the sample is negative, the passenger will be allowed to go home for a total period of 7 days for mandatory home quarantine. All symptomatic passengers who tested positive at the airport have been admitted to Seven Hills Hospital. Any such patient who prefers admission to a private hospital may be shifted to Bombay Hospital or Breach Candy Hospital,” said a circular from the BMC.
When airport authorities refused to conduct a second PCR test, Ladwa angrily started a Facebook Live from the airport which has been watched by over 10,000 people across the world.
In the video he claims he has “magically tested positive” at the Mumbai International Airport and asks viewers to “speak to anyone they know who can help”. “It’s a scam,” he declared. “My wife’s father passed away 24 hours ago and I am here to attend her last rites. They are depriving me of an independent test.”
Some viewers misunderstood him Manoj Ladwa, former Director of Communications to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who also lives in the UK. Speaking to TOI from the hospital ward, Ladwa said, “This is not the first time I have been mingled with him.”
“Nobody was ready to go to the unknown quarantine hospital where they didn’t know what was going to happen and so we all took a stand and only then the BMC people came and said they were going to take up a case. Us, if we don’t go into mandatory quarantine,” he said.
Ladwa and his wife Shy Heathrow had left for Borivali on 29 December to attend her father’s funeral. Vasant Parikh, 87, died of lung cancer on December 28. Ladwa booked the flights on the same day and before the flight both of them underwent PCR test which was negative. The flight landed in Mumbai at 1.30 am on December 30 and was to reach Borivali by 8 am for the last rites.
Ladwa said there was a “catastrophe” upon arrival at the airport and PCR tests were conducted in a corridor where other passengers were disembarking.
“The desk at which I did my testing had several other test kits, no isolation and the previous person who left a few seconds earlier had their cotton bud placed over mine, and then the person doing the test, then Used to transfer her and pick up mine,” he said, claiming that his test may have been contaminated with Covid.
“I did a lateral flow test before the authorities at the airport which came back negative. I gave two to two passengers and they tested negative. I asked for another independent PCR test and they refused.” At 5 in the morning, he asked his wife to go to the funeral without him.
Now stuck in quarantine, he fears he will miss his return flight booked on January 4 and has approached his MP quasi quartengo asking for help.
“I haven’t shown any symptoms since I got to board the plane,” he said, adding that if he picks up Covid anywhere, it will be in the hospital where he is. “I love the honor of being the equivalent of parenting and grooming my father-in-law – nothing like that happened. This journey has been destroyed by this,” he said.
Manoj Ladwa54, born in Porbandar, Gujarat, who now lives in Staines in the UK, where he is a director of a construction company, is now in a COVID ward at Seven Hills Hospital in Andheri, initially telling staff at the Mumbai International Airport Despite leaving, he will not go there as he had no symptoms of covid and had tested negative before the flight.
According to Ladwa, the BMC staff refused to conduct the second PCR test before him and after a nine-hour stand-off at the airport along with 14 other passengers who tested positive from the same Virgin Atlantic flight, he was finally taken there. gone. His wife tested negative at the airport and went to the funeral alone.
The cost of a flight ticket for him and his wife is £3,000 (approximately Rs 3 lakh).
The BMC officials, on their part, said that they are following the COVID-19 testing norms laid down by the state government and the civic agency. As per the norms, travelers arriving in Europe including countries identified as ‘at risk’ by the government such as the United Kingdom are turned away on a priority basis to undergo RT-PCR test on arrival.
“If this sample is also positive, the sample collected for routine RT-PCR will be immediately sent for genome sequencing and the traveler will be directed for institutional quarantine. If the sample is negative, the passenger will be allowed to go home for a total period of 7 days for mandatory home quarantine. All symptomatic passengers who tested positive at the airport have been admitted to Seven Hills Hospital. Any such patient who prefers admission to a private hospital may be shifted to Bombay Hospital or Breach Candy Hospital,” said a circular from the BMC.
When airport authorities refused to conduct a second PCR test, Ladwa angrily started a Facebook Live from the airport which has been watched by over 10,000 people across the world.
In the video he claims he has “magically tested positive” at the Mumbai International Airport and asks viewers to “speak to anyone they know who can help”. “It’s a scam,” he declared. “My wife’s father passed away 24 hours ago and I am here to attend her last rites. They are depriving me of an independent test.”
Some viewers misunderstood him Manoj Ladwa, former Director of Communications to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who also lives in the UK. Speaking to TOI from the hospital ward, Ladwa said, “This is not the first time I have been mingled with him.”
“Nobody was ready to go to the unknown quarantine hospital where they didn’t know what was going to happen and so we all took a stand and only then the BMC people came and said they were going to take up a case. Us, if we don’t go into mandatory quarantine,” he said.
Ladwa and his wife Shy Heathrow had left for Borivali on 29 December to attend her father’s funeral. Vasant Parikh, 87, died of lung cancer on December 28. Ladwa booked the flights on the same day and before the flight both of them underwent PCR test which was negative. The flight landed in Mumbai at 1.30 am on December 30 and was to reach Borivali by 8 am for the last rites.
Ladwa said there was a “catastrophe” upon arrival at the airport and PCR tests were conducted in a corridor where other passengers were disembarking.
“The desk at which I did my testing had several other test kits, no isolation and the previous person who left a few seconds earlier had their cotton bud placed over mine, and then the person doing the test, then Used to transfer her and pick up mine,” he said, claiming that his test may have been contaminated with Covid.
“I did a lateral flow test before the authorities at the airport which came back negative. I gave two to two passengers and they tested negative. I asked for another independent PCR test and they refused.” At 5 in the morning, he asked his wife to go to the funeral without him.
Now stuck in quarantine, he fears he will miss his return flight booked on January 4 and has approached his MP quasi quartengo asking for help.
“I haven’t shown any symptoms since I got to board the plane,” he said, adding that if he picks up Covid anywhere, it will be in the hospital where he is. “I love the honor of being the equivalent of parenting and grooming my father-in-law – nothing like that happened. This journey has been destroyed by this,” he said.
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