COVID-19: Mary Kom Broke Quarantine Protocol, Attended President Kovind’s Breakfast

New Delhi: Spreading more panic after reports of Bollywood singer Kanika Kapoor breaking the 14-day quarantine protocol, comes news of another top sports personality -- Mary Kom -- violating the norms after return from a foreign country, at a time when novel coronavirus cases are mounting in India and have reached over 270.

Kom, a Padma awardee boxer and Rajya Sabha MP, reportedly broke the WHO-mandated protocol after she returned to India on March 13 from the Asia-Oceania Olympic qualifiers in Amman, Jordan, according to an IANS report.

According to The Quint, prior to the tournament in Jordan, the entire 13-member Indian boxing contingent, including Kom, had been training in Italy’s Assisi, about 500 km from Milan, for a few weeks. Italy is one of the worst affected countries, with the death toll due to COVID-19 hitting higher numbers than China.

The quarantine protocol, put in place by the World Health Organisation for all governments to follow, requires a person to remain in self-isolation for a minimum of 14 days.

What’s more, Kom attended the same breakfast on March 18 hosted by President Ram Nath Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhawan, which was also attended by BJP MP Dushyant Singh, who had attended a party with COVID-19 positive singer Kapoor. Singh is now in self-isolation.

According to a report in News18, in one of the four pictures tweeted by the official Twitter handle of President of India, Kom can be seen with other MPs. 

According to a report in Hindustan Times, the Indian boxing squad which was training in Italy included Mary Kom (51kg), Sakshi Chaudhary (57kg), Simranjit Chakar (60kg), Lovlina Borgohain (69kg) and Pooja Rani (75kg) in the women squad. While the men’s team included Amit Panghal (52kg), Gaurav Solanki (57kg), Manish Kaushik (63 kg), Vikas Krishan (69kg), Ashish Kumar (75kg), Sachin Kumar (81kg), Naman Tanwar (91kg) and Satish Kumar (+91kg).

"President Kovind hosted Members of Parliament from Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan for breakfast at Rashtrapati Bhavan this morning," read the caption of the photos.

In fact, the IANS report quoted India’s boxing coach Santiago Nieva saying that members of the Indian boxing contingent, who participated in Jordan, were all under the mandatory 14-day quarantine.

"10 days we had planned but now it becomes 14 days. So after 10 days I am working on a training programme which I will send them. After this period they can start on that. If this is not solved within two weeks then we will have to continue like this as best as we can," Nieva had told IANS.

According to reports, Kom, has admitted that she attended the President's event. In a statement, she said: "I am home since I came back from Jordan. I only attended the President's event and did not meet Dushyant or shake hands with. My quarantine after Jordan ends but I'm going to be at home only for the next 3-4 days."

President Kovind is reportedly likely to undergo coronavirus test, said reports.