Uttar Pradesh: Bureaucrat couple tests positive for Covid-19

NOIDA/GHAZIABAD: The Ghaziabad additional district magistrate (city) and his wife, a sub-divisional magistrate in Jewar, have tested positive for Covid-19.
As an interim measure, deputy collector Sanjay Mishra has been given the additional charge of SDM (Jewar).
The bureaucrat couple lives in a society in Sector 137. They are undergoing treatment at Yashoda Hospital, said Dr Sunil Dagar, its CEO.
Sources said the couple’s two children and two other relatives have also tested positive for Covid-19, and all of them are asymptomatic. However, there was no official confirmation of this.
The woman had fever for the past few days and had also undergone treatment for toothache last week. On Saturday, she and her husband were tested for Covid-19, and the results returned positive the following day.
Both the officers had attended crucial meetings of their respective administrative and health departments. “The SDM was on leave for the past few days. We have asked the officials with whom she came in direct contact to get tested and quarantine themselves,” said district magistrate Suhas LY.
Seven officials, including her driver, gunner and tehsildar, were found to be in the chain of contact of the SDM. All of them underwent antigen tests on Monday morning, which came out negative. However, as they don't have symptoms, they might not undergo RT-PCR tests, which are done in case of negative results, said officials.
Ghaziabad district magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey said the staff posted at the ADM’s office were still undergoing Covid tests. The ADM's office will be sealed for 24 hours for sanitisation.
“A disinfection drive was also carried out in the collectorate. Contact tracing has also been initiated,” Pandey added. Sources said the ADM was ill for several days, due to which he had been unable to go to the office, although he had attended several meetings.
While health officials did not comment, chief medical officer NK Gupta said he was not aware of the case.