Defence ministry official in home quarantine
nNEW DELHI: A joint secretaryranked officer in the defence ministry is under home quarantine. The official is among the people who came in touch with defence secretary Ajay Kumar who tested positive for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) on Tuesday, officials said on Thursday.
Kumar, who is under home quarantine, may have come in touch with around 30 people in the four to five days before he tested positive, the officials said. “Only the Js-ranked officer is in the high-risk category and is under quarantine,” they added.
Necessary contact tracing of the defence secretary is being carried out to identify people he recently come in contact with, as reported by Hindustan Times on Thursday. Kumar is the first top official to test positive. The chief of defence staff and the three service chiefs have had no direct contact with Kumar in the past four to five days, the officials added.
Defence minister Rajnath Singh did not attend office on Wednesday and Thursday as the first floor section of the South Block in which he has his office is being sanitised. Kumar’s office is not too far from the minister’s on the same floor. Several top officials have their offices on the first floor including the army chief, the navy chief and a string of bureaucrats.
It was not immediately known when Singh met Kumar last. Defence ministry officials refused to comment on the matter.
Meanwhile, in the labour ministry, two officials in the labour secretary’s office have been tested Covid positive, prompting authorities to vacate a section of the Shram Shakti Bhavan, home to several ministries including labour and water.
Labour secretary Hiralal Samariya has informed the Parliament’s labour panel that he and other officials can’t depose before the committee on Friday. The panel was scheduled to discuss the issue of migrant workers and the social security code, one of the four new labour codes.
More Covid-19 cases surfaced in Shastri Bhawan on Wednesday as Delhi witnesses a steady increase in infections. According to officials, a joint secretary in the law ministry and the driver of a joint secretary in the culture ministry have also tested positive for the highly contagious disease.
The Lok Sabha secretariat has also barred entry of its former employees to Parliament complex. The ban is applicable for officers below the rank of retired joint Secretary.