District admin to sanitise Paytm office after first Covid-19 case in Gurugram

Gurugram: A 26-year-old man on Wednesday became Gurugram’s first positive case of coronavirus. The patient has been admitted in Safdarjung Hospital, one of two nodal

Gurugram: A 26-year-old man on Wednesday became Gurugram’s first positive case of coronavirus. The patient has been admitted in Safdarjung Hospital, one of two nodal hospitals in Delhi designated to isolate and treat such cases.

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An employee of e-wallet company Paytm based in Gurugram, the patient had recently returned from Italy, one of the worst-hit countries. Till the company’s office has been sanitized, it adviced its employees to work from home for a couple of days.

“One of our colleagues based out of Gurgaon office who recently returned from Italy post a vacation has sadly been tested positive for Coronavirus. He is receiving appropriate treatment. As a precautionary measure, we have suggested his team members to get health tests done immediately,” a Paytm spokesperson said. “We have also advised all our colleagues to work from home for a couple of days while we get our offices sanitized. However, there will not be any impact on our daily operations and Paytm services will continue as usual.”

Rajiv Arora, Haryana additional chief secretary in the health department, said, “The district administration along with the rapid response team will visit the Paytm office on Wednesday night for screening and sanitizing it. The team is on alert to prevent the spreading of contamination.”

The district administration on Tuesday had constituted a seven-member rapid response team to tackle coronavirus cases in the city.

“Our team will be collecting names and addresses of 150-200 employees working in the Gurugram office to conduct surveillance. The team will locate the employees for examination and immediate testing, if required. Not all employees are based out of Gurugram. Some stay in Delhi, Noida or Greater Noida. We will be sharing the information with the response teams of the respective cities so they could conduct surveillance at their level,” said Arora.

Dr Jaswant Punia, chief medical officer, said, “The coronavirus patient is 26-year-old, admitted in Safdarjung Hospital. A team of five to six doctors will be visiting the PayTM office. We are in constant touch with the company officials and are collecting the details with the help of district administration.”

The state government has been releasing daily bulletin on coronavirus. Till Wednesday, 274 persons in Gurugram have been observed after their visit from China. The health department since January has sent five samples from the city for testing, of which three are negative and two awaits test results.

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