Singer Kanika Kapoor, who has been tested positive for the coronavirus, has deleted the Instagram post in which she made the announcement. Ever since her diagnosis, the singer has been on the receiving end of severe online backlash, mostly because of the perceived lack of caution she took after returning from the UK.
In her original post, Kanika had written, “My family and I are in complete quarantine now and following medical advice on how to move forward. Contact mapping of people I have been in touch with is underway as well.”
After it was revealed that the singer attended several functions post her return from the UK, she was targetted for not quarantining herself. VIPs who were present in her company immediately put themselves in isolation and were tested for the virus. Her building in Lucknow was put in quarantine, while the authorities scrambled to track down anyone who may have come into contact with her. She was accused of ducking the mandatory temperature check at the airport, and failing to inform those in her proximity of her travel history.
The singer, in her defence, said that no regulations had been put in place when she arrived from the UK. On March 9, Kanika told Times of India in an interview, “There are these silly rumours that I hid in the washroom to skip screening. Tell me, how is it possible for a person to skip screening at immigration while coming on an international flight? I was properly screened at the Mumbai airport and I stayed in the city for a day. But since everything was closed and no work was happening (because of the industry lockdown due to the coronavirus spread), my parents suggested I come home. So I reached Lucknow on March 11 by the morning flight. And one can check, at that time there was no advisory issued by the government on anyone travelling from abroad to be under self-quarantine. So how can one expect me to do it, especially when I had been screened and had no health issues till I left Mumbai? In fact, I developed the symptoms only four days ago.”
During all this, celebrities such as Sonam Kapoor and Mini Mathur have spoken in her defence, with Mini calling the attack on her a ‘witch hunt’.
A day after the singer tested positive for the coronavirus for the third time, old pictures of her socialising with Prince Charles went viral, with many accusing her of having infected the royal as well, without realising that the pictures were from 2018.
