E-Paper
LS staffer, kin of Rashtrapati Bhavan worker test positive
A cluster of 125 residential houses in the Rashtrapati Bhavan estate was sealed while New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) turned a large number of residential houses near Kali Bari Marg, where the parliament employee lived, into a containment zone.
The coronavirus disease (Covid-19) reached the apex of the Indian State — Rashtrapati Bhavan and Indian Parliament — on Tuesday as a special housekeeper of Lok Sabha — whose son works in Parliament too — and a daughter-in-law of a Rashtrapati Bhavan sanitation worker were tested positive.
A cluster of 125 residential houses in the Rashtrapati Bhavan estate was sealed while New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) turned a large number of residential houses near Kali Bari Marg, where the parliament employee lived, into a containment zone.
The daughter-in-law of the presidential house sanitation worker tested positive after she came in contact with her mother. The older woman died because of Covid-19 related complications at a private hospital near Karol Bagh seven to eight days ago, a Rashtrapati Bhavan official said.
“After we came to know that the lady’s mother died with Covid-19 complications and she had visited her, we sent the entire family to a government-run isolation facility near Birla Mandir. The staff’s house was sealed too,” the official said.
As a matter of abundant precaution, 125 houses in that area, within Rashtrapati Bhawan, were also sanitised and bleached in a bid to curb any possible spread of the virus that has already affected millions around the world.
“All family members of the staff were tested for Covid-19. While everyone else came out to be negative, the daughter-in-law’s test showed positive results,” the official added, emphasising that no Rashtrapati Bhavan staff has been infected.
Last month, President Ram Nath Kovind cancelled all his engagements indefinitely after it came to light that BJP lawmaker Dushyant Singh, who attended a breakfast meeting with him at Rashtrapati Bhavan, had also attended a party where Bollywood singer Kanika Kapoor was present. Kapoor tested positive for Covid-19 and later discharged from hospital after testing negative.
The Lok Sabha housekeeper, who tested positive, was not attached to the main Parliament complex, but its printing establishment at 36 Gurudwara Rakab Ganj Road in central Delhi. But he lived with his son, along with other family members. The son, in turn, works with the Electronic Corporation of India Limited and is currently posted in the CCTV wing in Parliament House. Both the father and the son had not been coming to work since March 23.
“Approximately 10 days ago, the housekeeper fell ill and went to Ram Manohar Lohia hospital for check-up and tests, including ECG. He was discharged the same day,” a parliament official said. “But after some days, he developed cough, fever and body ache. On April 18, he again went for check-up at the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital. This time, the doctors tested him for COVID-19. On Monday, April 20, his report came with COVID-19 positive result,” added the official.
The housekeeper lives with his wife, three sons, one daughter, and four grandchildren in the same house at New Delhi’s Kali Bari Marg, said another senior official. One of these sons works in Parliament. Concerned agencies were quickly contacted to get COVID-19 test done for all family members on Tuesday. The results have not come yet.
The housekeeper was shifted to Safdarjung hospital from his home on Tuesday morning and officials added that all precautions and steps as mandated by the government will be taken.
The Parliament secretariat had resumed work from office on Monday after a gap of several weeks. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla too attended office and held a video conference with his counterparts in state assemblies to discuss the Covid-19 situation and other important issues relating to the role of the Speakers.
