Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain on Tuesday said a Covid-19 case has been reported from the Rashtrapati Bhavan complex in the Capital. Though he did not give any further details, an ANI news agency report claimed that about 125 families living in the premises have been asked to quarantine themselves as a precautionary measure.
Unidentified officials told PTI that the patient was a relative of a sanitation worker who stays in the premises, and has been admitted to a hospital. The worker’s mother had died of Covid-19 infection a few days ago, officials said.
“A Covid-19 positive patient from Central Delhi, who was neither an employee of the president’s secretariat nor a resident of the president’s estate, expired on April 13,” the Rashtrapati Bhavan said in a statement. “After contact tracing, it was found that a family member of an employee of the president’s Secretariat had been in contact with the deceased.”
“The mother used to live outside the President’s Estate,” an official was quoted as saying. “After she was tested positive, all her relatives were quarantined and their test was done. The test report came negative.”
Another official told The Hindu that the main Rashtrapati Bhavan, where President Ram Nath Kovind and his family stay, has not been affected.
Meanwhile, India’s Covid-19 tally increased by 1,336 cases in 24 hours to reach 18,601 on Tuesday morning. According to the Union health ministry, 590 of these patients have died, 14,759 people are undergoing treatment, 3,251 people have recovered and one person has left the country.
The health ministry said the rate of doubling cases in the country had gone down from 3.4 days before the imposition of the nationwide lockdown to 7.5 days.
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