PURI: The increasing number of servitors getting infected with coronavirus has emerged as a headache for both Sri Jagannath temple and district administration.
Administrator (development) of the temple Ajay Kumar Jena informed that at least 50 servitors have tested positive for COVID-19 so far and the number is rising every day. The most vulnerable are the families of servitors.
Post-Rath Yatra, daily reports of temple servitors catching the deadly virus are coming up with one succumbing to COVID-19 so far.
As a precautionary measure, the administration had conducted COVID-19 test of servitors and their families twice before the Rath Yatra and once after the festival. This apart, immunity-boosting homeopathic drug was distributed among servitors several times.
Several steps were taken to keep servitors free of the infection to ensure observance of daily rituals of the Trinity. A hotel was taken on rent by the temple administration and made into a COVID care home dedicated only for servitors. The 30-room hotel is now full after many senior servitors tested positive.
The administration is now planning to convert the 100-room temple-run hotel Nilachal Bhakta Nivas into a COVID care facility to accommodate more infected servitors, Jena added.
The district has so far reported 4,423 positive cases of which 16 have died. Puri town alone accounts for 1,580 positive cases. The infected persons include a number of servitors and some members of the temple body.