A returnee from Tamil Nadu was forced to stay inside a toilet for seven days after his request of stay in institutional quarantine was turned down in Odisha’s Jagatsinghpur district.

Manas Patra, 28, had to spend his home quarantine period inside the toilet in Jamugaon village in Nuagaon block after being discharged from a government-run quarantine centre. He did not have enough space inside his house to quarantine himself, The Quint reported.

Patra was working in a company in Tamil Nadu. He was admitted at the government-run temporary medical camp (TMC) at Sudukanthi School, and was discharged seven days later.

He was then asked to spend another week in home isolation.

It has been made mandatory by the state government that returnees in rural areas will have to stay under institutional quarantine for seven days. Asymptomatic people will then be discharged and will have to undergo home quarantine for an additional seven days.

However, when Patra sought an extension of his stay in the TMC as his house, with six family members, did not have enough space, he was denied extension.

Patra was then forced to take shelter in a Swachh Bharat toilet close to his house, to ensure that his family members were safe. He stayed in the toilet from June 9 to June 15.

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