COVID-19 cases crop up at Telangana Secretariat, GHMC

Two staff working at Telangana Secretariat and GHMC office tested positive for coronavirus which triggered a panic situation among other employees. Following the report, employees were directed to stay in home quarantine as a precautionary measure.

Hyderabad (Telangana): Two coronavirus cases sent employees at Telangana Secretariat and Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) into a panic on Monday.

Officials and other employees in the Finance Department on the seventh floor at B.R.K. Bhavan went into home quarantine after an employee tested positive.

The man was reportedly infected by COVID-19 after attending the funeral of a relative.

As the word spread about the man testing positive, the staff in the Finance Department stayed away from the office on Monday and went into home quarantine as a precautionary measure.

Telangana Secretariat is operating from B.R.K. Bhavan due to construction of new buildings at old premises.

Meanwhile, panic also gripped the head office of GHMC adjoining B.R.K. Bhavan as one of the employees tested positive for COVID-19.

The employee working in the Engineering Department on the fourth floor had not been coming to the office since last week. Meanwhile, other employees learnt that he tested positive.

GHMC officials asked all the employees working on the floor not to come to the office on Monday and Tuesday.

The municipal workers took up sanitisation of all seven floors in the buildings.

An official in the Entomology Department said that there was no need for any panic and only as a precautionary measure, were employees working in three sections on the fourth floor asked not to come to the office for two days.

He said the GHMC was taking all precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 among its employees. These include making the wearing of masks and gloves compulsory.

COVID-19 cases hit the secretariat and GHMC at a time when the state is witnessing a surge in several cases.

The state has been reporting over 100 cases every day. It reported 206 cases on Saturday, the highest ever single-day jump.

The Health Department said the state saw 14 fatalities on Sunday, the highest toll in a single day.

Monday's incidents occurred amid an increasing number of cases among doctors and other healthcare professionals in Hyderabad.

PTI report