COVID-19: 80 people working in UP CM helpline centre test +ve
19 PAC personnel in Lucknow test positive for Coronavirus within three days
LUCKNOW: At least 80 people working for the Uttar Pradesh chief minister's helpline service here have tested positive for COVID-19, a senior official said on Tuesday.
"The first case (among those working at the helpline) was detected around 4-5 days back," the official said.
The helpline service '1076' has been outsourced to a company.
"We had visited the place almost a month back, and they were properly told masks and sanitisers have to be used by everyone. They (the company) forwarded us photographs and videos of people wearing masks while working," the official said.
However, the official refused to comment on whether any action has been initiated against the company, which was providing the services.
The Yogi Adityanath government had last year launched the chief minister's helpline number '1076'.
The 24X7 toll-free helpline number enables residents of the state to file their complaints. It was launched to establish a direct link between the people and the Chief Minister's Office. Meanwhile, as many as 19 personnel of the Uttar Pradesh armed police posted here have tested positive for COVID-19 in the past three days, officials said on Tuesday.
The first suspected case surfaced on June 12, when a 25-year-old constable, posted at a barrack on the Vikramaditya Marg in Bandariya Bagh area, complained of illness, an official of the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) said.
The constable was taken to the Civil Hospital in Lucknow where his COVID-19 test result came positive on June 14, the official said.
After the first positive case was reported, medical teams arrived at the barrack the same day and took swab samples of 85 personnel, he said.
“The reports of 40 PAC personnel have come, 19 of them are positive, the PAC official said.
The barrack is a couple of kms away from the official residence of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, other ministers and senior bureaucrats, the PAC official said.
He said the personnel posted there are deployed in the vicinity of the CM'S house.