Civic body fumes over a very B-town outbreak

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) conducted tests at four residential buildings in Bandra, where Bollywood actors Kareena Kapoor, Amrita Arora, Johar, and actor Sohail Khan live, and collected close to 100 samples. The results are likely late on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Mumbai’s municipal corporation scrambled on Tuesday to test and trace people who attended a high-profile Bollywood gathering after at least four people who attended the event tested positive for Covid-19, amid allegations by the civic body the top actors and stars flouted coronavirus restriction norms.

Actors Kareena Kapoor Khan and Amrita Arora. ANI

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) conducted tests at four residential buildings in Bandra, where Bollywood actors Kareena Kapoor, Amrita Arora, Johar, and actor Sohail Khan live, and collected close to 100 samples. The results are likely late on Tuesday or Wednesday.

On Monday, BMC reported Kareena Kapoor and Amrita Arora tested positive for Covid-19, after they attended a private gathering at Johar’s home on December 8 with approximately 100 people.

On Tuesday, Sohail Khan’s wife Seema Khan, his son, and sister-in-law also tested positive. BMC officials sealed the houses of Khan, Johar, Kapoor and Arora and asked the stars to remain isolated at home.

“At the time she attended this event, Seema Khan was already a high-risk contact of a Covid-19 positive patient in her residential building. She should have quarantined herself, but did not and instead attended the party,” said Vinayak Vispute, assistant commissioner of the H/West ward in Bandra West.

“I can understand if some teenagers were present at such a party…those who are in the limelight, why don’t they fear Covid-19?” asked mayor Kishori Pednekar.

Officials said the stars may have violated Covid protocol but they were yet to take any action because the affected people were still in hospital.

During Tuesday’s testing camps, residents of these buildings were tested, along with drivers, house-helps, cooks, and security personnel. “In Seema Khan’s building, about 32 samples were collected, in Arora and Kapoor’s buildings a total of 40 samples were collected, and samples were also collected from Karan Johar’s building. These four buildings have been sealed,” said a senior civic body official, requesting anonymity.

Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner incharge of BMC’s public health department said 15 high-risk contacts and 15 other contacts of Kareena Kapoor and Amrita Arora were traced and tested. “As per the information we have at present, none of these people are positive,” he added.