Video of Agra quarantine facility inmates reaching for water, food goes viral; distribution delay made them restless, says official

Two videos showing people admitted at a coronavirus quarantine facility in Agra scrambling to get tea, biscuits and water through locked gates went viral on the internet.

The 25-second-long video was reportedly shot at Agra’s Hindustan College, in which a man in protective gear is seen throwing biscuit packets close to the gate and water bottles are lying too. A crowd of inmates is also seen gathered at the gate to reach out for these essentials, flouting the social distancing guidelines.

In one of the videos, a woman who claims to be one of the inmates at the facility, a college taken over by the Agra administration, is heard saying that they were summoned under the pretext of a medical check-up.

And then you blame those who want to escape quarantine - quarantined fed shabbily in agra ..@pranshumisraa pic.twitter.com/oZ0ALW19li

— pallavi ghosh (@_pallavighosh) April 26, 2020

The video surfaced online after the Centre hailed the “Agra model” to contain coronavirus cases and directed other states to follow it.

In response to the videos, district magistrate Prabhu Narayan Singh told News18 that he had gone to inspect the centre and all arrangement have been taken care of now. “The Chief Development Officer has been asked to investigate the matter and to fix responsibility as there was a separate team formed to handle this task. The team has been asked to work properly and to ensure that such complaints are not received again,” he said.

This is a #Covid_19india quarantine centre in Agra , UP . These visuals depict a scramble for essential supplies from behind the locked gates . Social distancing , and even basic human dignity seem to be out of the picture here .... agra has the maximum Covid + cases in UP ... pic.twitter.com/O1FxdQn6tS

— Alok Pandey (@alok_pandey) April 26, 2020

Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Kumar Awasthi told The Indian Express that the District Magistrate has ordered an inquiry into the incident. “There was a slight delay in distributing the food, that is why those staying at the quarantine centre became somewhat restless,” he said.

Earlier on 21 April, Agra mayor Naveen Jain said he had written to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath about the worsening situation of the city and the fear that Agra will become another Wuhan.

Until Sunday evening, Agra had reported 372 cases and 10 deaths.

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