Villagers near Trivandrum attack & forcibly cough on medical team; Kerala CM blames Oppn

A shocking incident had come to light from Kerala in which a medical team was attacked by villagers. The medical team had visited a coastal village named Poonthura in Thiruvananthapuram district for COVID-19 swab collection on Friday during which it got surrounded by villagers who attacked the car and manhandled the team. The agitated villagers allegedly abused and 'coughed' on the team. To add to the horror, the villagers forced the team to lower their vehicle's window and spat on them.

Dr Dyuthi Hariprasad who led the team had got her medical licence just ten days back and was working in Valiyathura coastal speciality hospital as part of three months of compulsory rural service. Recalling the horrifying experience at the Poonthura coastal village she said, "Villagers were shouting, hitting on our car. They asked the driver to lower the windows. We tried to convince people that we were a health team which had come for a swab collection. They removed their mask and forced their heads into the car and coughed at us".

"We were six people in the car, a staff nurse, a nursing assistant, lab technician, a driver, a staff nurse and I. The gate of Ayush hospital seemed closed when we arrived there. Suddenly a group of about 60 to 70 members both men and women surrounded our vehicle and began shouting at us and, hitting our car. Some people hurled abuses at us," the doctor added.

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The medical team's vehicle was surrounded by the protestors. The doctor instructed the driver not to open the window, but since the vehicle was not able to move ahead, the driver rolled down the window with an intention of pacifying the protestors. However, the protestors stuck their head inside and coughed at the team saying, "if we have COVID, you should have too", the doctor said.

"Later, some people in the crowd noticed that most of us were women and some of us were crying, hence they decided to let us go and released us," she added.

Poonthura, a densely populated coastal village in the Thiruvananthapuram city limit, is one of the coronavirus hotspots in Kerala.  Reports stated that the residents from the coastal village were agitated and protested alleging that they were facing isolation from the society due to a high number of cases in the village. Commandos and large numbers of police officials were deployed in the Poonthura area to control the situation and block people's movement amid the triple lockdown that was imposed by the state government in Thiruvananthapuram corporation area in the wake of the surge in infections.

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Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in his media briefing has blamed the Opposition for the incident. He said that workers of the Opposition United Democratic Front were responsible. Also, he mentioned a Youth Congress leader campaigned through WhatsApp against the antigen tests, saying the test was useless and would spread the virus. Vijayan also added that the Congress leader also claimed that the test was just to create fear among the people and due to enmity towards Poonthura natives. Vijayan has warned of strong action against those who spread fake news.

(With ANI inputs)