BHUBANESWAR: Offices of Bhubaneswar sub-collector and tehsildar at Samantapur were sealed for 48 hours on Friday after a number of staff tested positive for Covid-19 in the last 24 hours. Some other staff of the offices located in the same compound are also showing symptoms. Sources in the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) informed that four employees of the sub-collector office and three from tehsil office have been found infected.
They include three assistant collectors and two additional tehsildars. They tested positive, possibly due to crowding of the offices during the working hours, said officials in the Sub-Collector office. Deputy Commissioner (South-East Zone) Anshuman Rath said the infected persons have been kept in home isolation while heads of both the offices asked to intimate BMC about other staff having symptoms and ask them to undergo home isolation. “An RT-PCR testing camp will be conducted for the staff of both the offices on November 20. Samples of all officers, staff, house-keeping and security personnel will be collected,” he said.
The cluster outbreak of Covid-19 cases in the government offices was reported even after 100 pc vaccination of the targeted groups. The second wave of coronavirus outbreak is yet to show any signs of relenting in the city as around 200 cases of infection are being reported from BMC jurisdiction on a daily basis.“Though more relaxations have been provided in the unlock guidelines for September, the civic body will continue with its containment measures to prevent transmission of the infection,” said BMC nodal officer for Covid Management Suvendu Sahoo.