Covid +ve cases in GHMC HQ, secretariat building spark panic

An entire floor dedicated to health and sanitation officials and staff of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) in the corporation headquarters, was on Monday vacated after an employee from the floor tested positive for Covid19.

In a knee-jerk reaction, a five-day home quarantine has been declared for the staff on the fourth floor of the building. While this was at the GHMC headquarters, in the adjacent new Secretariat, a father and son duo, working in that building, also tested positive prompting cleanups.

According to officials, the 32 year old employee, who tested positive, works as a junior assistant in the solid waste management wing. The virus was transmitted through his wife, who works in Gandhi Hospital.

The patient was absent from his duties from June

4 and he did not intimate his status of leave to the higher authorities. Irked by this, GHMC officials called the Covid-19 team and subsequently learnt that he had Coronavirus symptoms.

The officials immediately informed health authorities and collected his samples on June 6 and the next day the results showed that he was Covid19 positive. Officials said

● THE PATIENT was absent from his duties from June 4 and he did not intimate his status of leave to the higher authorities.

that being a friendly employee, he often interacts with colleagues on the fourth floor. However, learning of the news, the entire floor was vacated on Monday and disinfection activities were taken up.

Ironically, GHMC Chief Entomologist, chief medical officer of health (CMOH) and sanitation additional commissioner, who are monitoring Covid-19 developments, have cabins on the same floor. Higher authorities in a knee-jerk reaction instructed the staff to conduct thermal screens at entrances. The town planning officials asked applicants and citizens not to come to headquarters for at least five days.

This apart, two positive cases were reported in the State Secretariat. The father and son, working in the Finance Department (seventh floor), tested positive. Officials and other employees in the floor went into home quarantine. They were infected after attending the funeral of a relative. The staff in the Finance Department stayed away from office on Monday and went into home quarantine as a precautionary measure.