District magistrate second IAS officer to test Covid +ve in Bihar

PATNA: A district magistrate in Bihar has tested positive for coronavirus, officials said on Wednesday.

An MBBS doctor, the 2011batch IAS officer, posted in a district of north Bihar, tested Covid-19 positive on Tuesday after he decided to take the test for the same on May 25.

“The officer had low-grade fever, sore throat and loss of appetite for the past 4-5 days. Though he was taking precautions while going to quarantine camps and railway station, he decided to take the test. His sample was taken on May 25 and sent to the Rajendra Memorial Research Institute of Medical Sciences (RMRIMS) in Patna, and he tested positive Tuesday,” said his colleague, requesting anonymity.

“The officer and his wife have

quarantined themselves in separate rooms, after his spouse too showed Covid symptoms. Her sample has also been sent for test,” he said.

Despite going into isolation, the officer is still at work and was in touch with district officials over phone and on WhatsApp, said a district official.

The district, where the DM is posted, has so far received over 50,000 migrant workers and continues to receive 6-8 Shramik Special trains every day.

This is the second case of an IAS officer in Bihar testing Covid positive. Earlier, a 2017-batch IAS officer, posted as a sub-divisional magistrate in Nalanda, had tested positive on May 12.

Bihar has reported 3,010 coronavirus cases with 15 deaths as of Wednesday afternoon. A total of 918 people have recovered from the disease so far.

Migrant workers account for two-third of the total Covid-19 cases in the state, with 2,072 having tested positive out of the over 18 lakh migrant workers who have returned to the state so far after May 3.

Bihar’s principal secretary, health, Uday Singh Kumawat, did not respond to phone calls.