Covid-19: Karnataka govt puts 1,200 of its staff on contact tracing; those refusing to be punished

BENGALURU: With an increasing number of Covid-19 cases where authorities have been unable to establish the source of the virus, the government has decided to depute more than 1,200 of its employees on contact tracing duty, with a special focus on Bengaluru and surrounding areas.
As on Monday, the government has been unable to establish the source of infection for more than 40% of the 25,317 cases in Karnataka, a majority of which were estimated to be in Bengaluru.
The order signed by chief secretary TM Vijaya Bhaskhar, while quoting section 56 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, reads: “Any officer... who ceases or refuses to perform or withdraws himself from the duties of this office unless he has obtained the express written permission of his official superior or has other lawful permission for doing so, he shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year with fine.”
The order, while conceding that the inability to trace contacts has turned out to be a challenge in controlling the spread of Covid-19, especially in and around Bengaluru, says the government has noticed that not enough resources have been deployed to tracing.
“Those officials from Group-A, B and C as mentioned in this order, will be deputed for contact tracing,” the order reads. The annexure with the order shows 1,246 officers and employees listed for this duty.