DEHRADUN: Eighty-four trainee Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officers at Mussoorie’s Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration were quarantined on Wednesday after testing positive for Covid-19. The academy administration has created a containment zone in the institution where they have been quarantined.
“The trainees were tested after arriving at the academy via Dehradun on Sunday from Gujarat and elsewhere. As many as 480 civil services officers, including from allied services, too, were tested,” said Dr Manoj Upreti, Chief Medical Officer, Dehradun.
The officers are part of the 96th foundation course and the faculty members were part of a field study and research programme that began on December 27, 2021. Officials from the state health department said there could be more positive cases in the academy. “There are cases but I am not sure about the numbers. The academy will issue an official statement soon,” said an official.
As the IAS trainees had visited villages near the international border as part of their training course, the residents of those villages have been directed to get tested and home-isolate or get necessary medical assistance, as needed.
Last November, 57 IAS trainee officers at the Mussoorie academy had tested positive. A dozen trainee Indian Forest Services officers, had been found infected at Forest Research Institute, Dehradun. In fact, the first Covid case in Uttarakhand had surfaced at FRI in March 2020.