Steel & Mines department closed after 15 staff test positive
BHUBANESWAR: Amid the growing fear over the Omicron variant, 15 employees of the Steel and Mines department have tested positive for Covid-19 in the last couple of days forcing the authority to close the department.
In an official order, the department stated that as 15 of its employees have been infected by the virus recently, the office was closed on Thursday and will remain closed on Friday as well for undertaking disinfection work and breaking the chain of infection.
The employees, who are not attending the office, will work from home and attend the office at a short notice if required. They will be available over telephone at all time.
However, for immediate and urgent nature of official work, some of the employees, who have not come in contact with the affected employees will attend office as per roster arrangement, the order stated.
Although the source of infection has not been ascertained yet, health officials said that some employees had recently attended private functions. Director of Public Health Dr. Niranjan Mishra said the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) was asked to verify whether any cluster has developed in the city in the wake of recent marginal surge in cases.
“As the Steel and Mines department has emerged as a cluster, the civic body has been directed to go for strict contact tracing and get all primary and secondary contacts tested,” he said. Of over 1,500 foreign returnees arrived in the State from countries ‘at risk’ so far, a significant number of international travellers belonged to the BMC area.
The Health department has called a meeting with BMC officials on Friday as several returnees are yet to be traced.
Meanwhile, the State recorded 173 new Covid-19 cases, including 26 of 0-18 years age group, in last 24 hours pushing the tally to 10,52,318.