Nearly 50 personnel of the camera division of Doordarshan News will be tested for coronavirus infection after 53-year-old video journalist who died of ‘heart attack’ on Wednesday tested positive posthumously.
The DD News has temporarily shut down the studio. It would be re-opened after sanitisation. “We have made contingency plans so that news operations are unaffected, by leveraging our pool of studios in Delhi,” a top official at DD News said.
Video journalist Yogesh Kumar on Wednesday collapsed at his home and was brought dead to hospital. The initial cause of his death confirmed by the hospital was heart attack. The DD News has been calling its staff for work on a rotational basis, with each of them working two days in a week. Mr. Kumar had been going to office regularly but was at home for the past couple of days.
Announcing his death on Wednesday, the DD News anchor said, “In his passing away DD News has lost a professional, who was indeed a COVID warrior and had covered all sorts of situations with a smiling face. His dedication and sincerity is something which we all will miss.”
It was only later confirmed that he was COVID positive. A batch of personnel from the camera division, according to sources, have been tested on Thursday at Dr. Rammanohar Lohia Hospital and another batch will be tested on Friday.