New Delhi: People wear protective masks to contain the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic at Khan Market | Photo Credit: PTI

New Delhi: As the cases of patients infected with the novel coronavirus are mounting in many countries across the world, including India, with every passing week, many aggressive measures are being taken to contain the outbreak. In India, one such measure is to screen the passengers landing at the airports from affected countries.

However, a case has surfaced where an 18-year-old student, who arrived in India from the United Kingdom on March 13, is running from pillar to post to get himself tested for the infection, but to no avail.

Delhi-resident Kushagra Juneja, the law student at Durham University, landed at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai on March 13. His body temperature was checked at the Mumbai airport. He claims that he was asked to fill a form to declare if he had symptoms like fever or cough. Since he had none, he was permitted to board his onward flight to Delhi.

His family put him in self-isolation as instructed by the government for the passengers coming from affected countries. As he developed sore throat and cough afterwards, the family decided to get his coronavirus test done.

However, that was the beginning of the harrowing ordeal for the Paschim Vihar-based family. The father of the student claims that he dialled every helpline number advertised by the government to seek guidance, but they went unanswered.

Finally, the family decided to take their son to the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, where again he was asked to fill a form in which he mentioned that he was suffering from sore throat and cough. To the shock of the family, the doctor said that it is normal to have such symptoms in this weather.

Despite repeated requests, his test was not done. They were only asked to keep him in self-isolation. The case has surfaced at a time when questions are being raised on the theory that the coronavirus is spread chiefly by people who are already showing symptoms.

Last week, White House coronavirus response coordinator Dr Deborah Birx, during a press briefing, had said that efforts are being made to understand people under the age of 20, who do not show "significant symptoms".

"Are they a group that are potentially asymptomatic and spreading the virus?" she asked.

"Until you really understand how many people are asymptomatic and asymptomatically passing the virus on, we think it's better for the entire American public to know that the risk of serious illness may be low, but they could be potentially spreading the virus to others. That's why we're asking every American to take personal responsibility to prevent that spread."

In the fight against coronavirus, India should not ignore the fact that experts have started opining that “asymptomatic transmission likely (plays) an important role in spreading this virus”.

As per Michael Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, it is "absolutely clear" that asymptomatic infection "surely can fuel a pandemic like this in a way that's going to make it very difficult to control".

Keeping this in mind, it becomes imperative for Indian authorities to not shy away from testing people for COVID-19, especially when they are coming forward to get themselves tested voluntarily while having some symptoms.