A young Bihar-cadre IAS officer posted in the Nalanda district as Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) has tested COVID-19 positive and is now in isolation.
The 2017-batch IAS officer, 27, has no travel history in the last 14 days. He is believed to have contracted the infection from local contacts.
On May 11, his sample was sent to the Patna-based Rajendra Memorial Research Institute (RMRI) and on May 12, his report came back positive.
Since then the officer hailing from Lucknow has been in isolation at a local hotel.
Principal Health Secretary Sanjay Kumar confirmed that the IAS officer had tested positive. The Health department has collected the samples of 46 people who are believed to have come in contact with the officer.
With 63 positive cases Nalanda, home district of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, is among the top five districts affected by the pandemic in Bihar.
This is the first case of an IAS officer testing positive in the State.
As many as 30 policemen, including 21 from the Bihar Military Police (BMP)-14 battalion alone, have, so far, tested COVID-19 positive. The BMP-14 headquarters and barrack at Khajpura locality has been designated red zone.
Bihar, so far, has reported 966 positive cases with seven deaths.