CHENNAI: India's spaceport Sriharikota is facing a COVID-19 scare as two of its employees working in the Solid Propellant Space Booster Plant (SPROB) have tested positive for the virus. Two of their family members also tested positive.
The infected employees are residents of Swarnamukhi Nagar, which is one of the three housing colonies of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC-Shar) located in Sullurpeta about 18 km away from Sriharikota island.
A member of the Contact Tracing Committee confirmed this to The New Indian Express. "Both are working as technicians in SPROB. We have identified about 50 primary and secondary contacts, who have been tested. The results are expected by Saturday evening. The infected have been shifted to a private hospital in Nellore."
Both the infected employees attended duties in SPROB, leading to fears that they may have passed it on to others. The place has been sanitised completely. As of now, there are no positive cases inside Sriharikota, access to which has been highly restricted.
Meanwhile, SDSC Shar Controller V Kumbakarnan has ordered the constitution of multiple task force teams to stop the spread of the disease. Separate eight-member task force teams were formed for Sriharikota, Pulicat Nagar, Swarnamukhi Nagar and Pinakini Nagar to make arrangements for shifting COVID-19 cases to hospitals and ensure disinfecting of their houses/locations and surroundings.
The office order, a copy of which is with The New Indian Express, says the task force teams will also assist the contact tracing team in finding out the primary and secondary contacts of the confirmed and suspected COVID-19 cases and recommend if it should be a containment zone based on the guidelines.
Besides, immediate quarantining of the high-risk exposure contacts, in order to contain the likely spread of COVID-19 in the Shar community, and identifying the group of persons for carrying out the surveillance medical tests are among the terms of reference given to the task force.
"The COVID-19 task force teams shall immediately come into action, if any cases are reported/suspected/confirmed in SDSC Shar housing colonies. Welfare Clubs shall support the task force teams in the respective housing colonies. Based on the need, the task force teams can co-opt additional members, whenever essential," the order reads.
A senior official of SDSC Shar told The New Indian Express that all preventive measures have been taken. "The Centre is operating with only skeletal staff for emergency and essential services. Only operations and maintenance contract employees who are residing in SDSC Shar housing colonies are allowed to attend duties. Persons from hotspots and containment zones are not permitted," he said.