E-Paper
Director general of Uttarakhand health department tests positive for Covid-19
Officials at the health department are now tracing contacts as the senior officer came in contact with many.
As Covid-19 cases continue to rise in Uttarakhand, Amita Upreti, director-general of Uttarakhand health department tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday, officials informed.
With Upreti testing positive, officials at the health department are now tracing contacts as the senior officer came in contact with many.
JC Pandey, public relations officer of Uttarakhand health department said, “We have learnt that the DG health has tested positive for Covid-19. She is currently under home-isolation and all those whom she came in contact with in the past few days are being traced.”
He further said that the health department office had not been closed for the sanitization process (till the filing of this copy) and the state control room for Covid-19 was functional.
Meanwhile, district magistrate of Bageshwar, Vineet Kumar, and chief development officer of the district also tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday.
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Confirming the development, Dr VK Saxena, acting chief medical officer (ACMO) said, “District magistrate Vineet Kumar and chief development officer DD Pant underwent a Covid-19 test on Monday. The test results came out to be positive the same day and they have been isolated. The health department is continuously monitoring their health.”
On Monday, the district magistrate had chaired a meeting with officials from different departments. The district health department is now tracing all the officials who had participated in the meeting and they will further be tested.
Uttarakhand’s Covid-19 cases on Monday crossed the 78,000-mark. The total tally now stands at 78,509. Out of 78,509 who have tested positive so far, a total of 71,105 have recovered successfully, taking the recovery rate in the state to 90.57 per cent. The positivity rate in the state now stands at 5.46 per cent.
Dehradun district has so far reported the maximum (22,856) Covid-19 cases, followed by Haridwar (12,452), US Nagar (10,480) and Nainital (8,979). The state health department has so far tested 14.37 lakh people of which results of over 16,900 are pending.
