DD News shifts operations to Khelgaon after employee tests positive for COVID-19 posthumously
NEW DELHI: Doordarshan News has shifted its operations from Mandi House to its studio in Khelgaon after a video journalist employed with it tested positive for coronavirus following his death, officials said on Friday.
According to his family, the 53-year-old video journalist had last gone to work on May 21 and after he returned home, he started feeling uneasy and took leave.
According to his elder brother, he did not have coronavirus symptoms but had ''mild breathing difficulty''.
On May 25, when he felt unwell, he consulted his family doctor who advised him against getting tested for coronavirus and asked him to undergo some blood tests.
"His blood test reports were normal. But on May 27, he collapsed and died en route to the hospital. He tested positive for the virus later. The doctor suspected that he had a heat stroke," his brother told PTI.
According to an official of DD News, initially they were told that he had a heatstroke and then they learnt he had a heart attack which led to his death.
However, when they learnt that he had died due to coronavirus, the areas he may have accessed were sanitised.
"The news operations have been shifted to the Khelgaon studio from the night of May 28. The floors of the Mandi House headquarters where news operations took place are being sanitised and it will take another two-three days," the official said.
The official said that the employee used to only access the camera section.
"We have been following strict protocol and the employees are mandated to collect the equipment and leave the building. No one was allowed to loiter," the official said on condition of anonymity.
"But as a precautionary measure, all the camera section employees, around 35-40 persons, are being tested at RML and if they want, they can also undergo a test at a private lab," the official added.
The official said the employees are being called on a rotational basis and May 21 (the day the deceased employee fell unwell) was only the sixth day in the month that he had reported for work.
"We have automatic hand sanitizer machines at the entrance of the building so that people do not have to touch them and those entering the building have to undergo thermal screening," the official said.
The Congress said it was saddened over the death of the DD News staffer and urged the government to announce relief for the family of the deceased.
"Saddened with the news of the death of Doordarshan News cameraman...He became coronavirus positive while performing his duty," the Congress said on its official Twitter handle.
The government should announce a system of protection for 'corona warriors' and assistance must be provided to the aggrieved family, the party said.
"We are all with the bereaved family in this hour of grief," the Congress said.