– Sheikh is a good politician. He is very good at a lot. But here he has been very unwise.
Athithan Kumarasamy (Labor Party) tells Dagbladet. He sits on the town committee at Stovner, together with Aamir Javed Sheikh (H).
Sheikh’s wife, Afshan Rafiq (H), sits in Oslo City Council. On Thursday she attended NRK’s «Debates», where she made the following statement:
– I have an urgent appeal to everyone: try to follow the infection control rules. If you have plans to travel at Easter, it is a strong encouragement not to do so.
At the same time, Sheikh was in Pakistan, where he, among other things, visited a wedding celebration. Oslo Conservative leader Heidi Nordby Lunde has later referred to the incident as “Obviously unfortunate” to Dagbladet.
Rafiq has explained to VG that Sheikh’s father became ill, and that was why he chose to travel. To NRK she says that Sheikh was on a “necessary journey” – and not on vacation. Her invitation was for holiday trips, she states.
Kumarasamy says he himself has an ill father of 87 years, living in Sri Lanka. He says that he has refrained from traveling and visiting him and his mother of 78 years due to the infection situation.
– I also lost my father-in-law in February. My wife and I did not travel then either. We saw the funeral online, he says.
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– Must be role models
Kumarasamy is not very impressed with his colleagues in Oslo politics.
– Politicians must be role models. It does not give confidence when politicians go out in the national media and say one thing, and then do the opposite, he says.
The Labor politician responds that Rafiq did not state that the spouse was in Pakistan during the “Debate”.
– Perhaps the debate would have taken a different direction if she had informed about it. It is in the wake of people traveling, and not listening to the authorities’ recommendation, that the government has now introduced a quarantine obligation in hotels.
Dagbladet has been in contact with Afshan Rafiq on Saturday. She does not want to comment on the case to Dagbladet. However, she confirms the Pakistan trip to VG, and refers to his statements there.
Sheikh tells VG that the event complied with the Pakistani guidelines, that he was there for a short time and met as few people as possible. Dagbladet has not succeeded in getting in touch with Sheikh on Saturday.
NIPH: The hospitals got to decide
– Has a corona
Rafiq has been presented with Kumarasmy’s statements, and says via political adviser Lars-Jørgen Kihlberg Olsen in the Oslo Conservative Party that she has nothing to add.
Sheikh himself tells VG that both he and his father have been infected with corona before.
– We would not have traveled to Pakistan if that were not the case. I will of course go to quarantine hotels for as long as needed. I want to encourage everyone who travels to follow the strict guidelines that are, and to be honest and open, he says.
Oslo Conservatives: – Unfortunate
– Too easy
That does not hold, says Kumarasamy, who is also a nurse.
– Then he takes it too lightly. We inform people that even if you have been infected, you can still carry the virus. He can be a carrier – it is too early for studies to establish anything else. With mutated variants, we also do not know exactly how people can be infected. I’m not impressed at all, he says.
Kumarasamy further points out that travelers from Norway to Pakistan also risk taking mutated virus variants that way.
– It’s not lucky either. It can destroy the entire healthcare system down there. Poor people can perish. Neither Pakistan nor Norway needs further pressure on health care from travelers who do not listen to the authorities’ recommendations.
To VG, Sheikh says that he tested himself before he left Norway, and again on Saturday.
Politician husband at party in Pakistan
– Leads high on infection
Now Kumarasamy fears for the trust of the city council at Stovner.
– We are fifteen politicians in the district. We work closely together, even though we are from different parties and have different thoughts. Still, we agree on most things, go together and front issues together. Then it is unfortunate that one of our politicians does this.
Kumarasamy praises the residents of the Stovner district, who he believes have been good at testing themselves and complying with infection control rules.
– Sheikh sits as a district politician in a district that leads high on the infection. Therefore, this is unfortunate. But we see that the infection trend is flattening out with us as well. People in Stovner district are generally very good. They stand in line at the test sites, and test themselves all the time.
People have run to the forest
The peak of infection
Infection in Oslo is still high, and Stovner is at the peak of infection with 1,600 infected per 100,000 inhabitants in the last two weeks. Then follows Alna district with 1442 and Grorud with 1260.
On Saturday, 322 new corona infections were registered in the city in the last 24 hours. That is three more than the average in the last seven days.
322 cases are still 27 fewer than the day before, and 67 fewer than the same day last week.
A total of 27,584 Oslo citizens have been registered infected since March last year.
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