Covid testing of govt employees kicks off

Jamshedpur: With a surge in the number of Covid-19 cases in Seraikela-Kharsawan in the past 45 days, the district administration has started the mandatory sample testing of all the government employees. Initiated on Saturday, civil surgeon Himanshu Barwar said the testing is being done department-wise to cover all the workers in the district.
On Monday, the employees of the rural development department went to the sadar hospital for giving their swab samples. “We have restricted the number of people that come for the test to 14 per day to maintain social distancing norms,” Barwar said. He added, “The sample collection takes place for half an hour every day on RT-PCR and Truenat machines.”
As many as 4,289 samples have been tested till Saturday, of which 4,065 tested negative. The district health department is planning to wrap up the testing by July 14.
Sources in the health department said the district authorities felt the need to conduct Covid tests after a worker from the district mines department tested positive on Friday.
Meanwhile, with 36 persons being discharged from the hospital following their recovery from the virus, the number of active cases in the district stood at 42 till Monday afternoon.