Rumours are more virulent than corona itself

MUMBAI: The brother of a Google techie who tested positive for coronavirus on Friday said that his sister-in-law did not flee, leaving his brother alone, as has been reported.

“My sister-in-law was slated to take a flight from Bengaluru to Delhi and she was supposed to take a train to her parents’ home in Agra on March 9 … My brother tested positive only on March 12. That’s a good three days after his wife had flown to Delhi,” the brother told TOI, adding that the reports have caused much anguish to the family.

The brother added that information floating around in the media and social media has left the entire family deeply stressed. “This is the last thing we need at a time when a family member is in hospital?”


He also clarified that his brother and his wife had never been to Italy — currently the epicentre of Covid19 in Europe. “My brother and his wife had gone to Europe on a personal tour and among a series of flights that they took there, the last stop was at Paris from where they touched down in Mumbai on March 6,” he said. “At no point did they visit Italy.”

Even after the techie’s wife reached her parents’ place, the local authorities there got in touch with her only after her husband tested positive. “She never refused to be quarantined. She had gone to the hospital as was required, but the sight of the extremely unhygienic condition of toilets made her retch,” he said. “We have photographs to prove this.”

She had gone to the hospital to give her blood sample and get screened after which she was discharged for home-isolation. “She was advised to wear a mask at all times. While the first test report was ‘inconclusive’, the second one is still awaited. But even before that, my sister-in-law has been declared as having tested positive which is not true,” the techie’s brother said.

The Google techie’s family members in Bengaluru as well as his wife’s family in Agra have undergone tests, he said. “It’s not the virus, but this rumour-mongering which is taking its toll on us.”