Hyderabad Mayor Bonthu Rammohan and several other officials of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) went into home and institutional quarantine on Thursday after a driver of the Mayor tested positive for the coronavirus.
The driver, Sudhakar, had attended duties frequently and was travelling with the Mayor during his inspections across the city. According to reports, an attender working in the Mayor's office tested positive earlier this week, following which tests were conducted for all the staff members.
This prompted authorities to carry out disinfection in the relevant premises.
Just last week, the Mayor had undergone a test after it was revealed that the staff member of a cafe tested positive. The Mayor’s blood samples had tested negative.
As I have to attend programmes & meetings on a daily basis and there is chance that the authorities who attend, the media personnel who cover may panic. So, my kind request with all news agencies, friends to let this information reach out to people.
— Dr BonthuRammohan,Mayor (@bonthurammohan) June 7, 2020
Report Tested Negetive. pic.twitter.com/J1ZcgMHBMb
However, with the latest development, he may need to undergo a COVID-19 test again.
Last week, an employee working in the Engineering Department on the fourth floor of the GHMC's headquarters in Hyderabad had tested positive, following which the entire floor was evacuated and sanitised. Staff members were asked to remain in home quarantine and report themselves if they showed any symptoms.
At the same time, officials and other employees in the Finance Department on the seventh floor at BRK Bhavan next to the GHMC headquarters, which was functioning as the Secretariat temporarily, also went into home quarantine after an employee tested positive.
Earlier, an entire floor was sealed off and sanitisation measures were undertaken at the Hyderabad Metro Rail Bhavan in the city's Rasoolpura area after a staff member working in the Telangana Chief Minister's Office (CMO), which was functioning out of the same building, tested positive for the coronavirus.
However, as Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao functions out of his camp office cum residence, Pragathi Bhavan in Begumpet, it did not pose any threat of infection to him.
Telangana reported 209 fresh COVID-19 cases on Thursday along with nine deaths, taking the state's total tally to 4,320 and death toll to 165.
Out of the 209 new cases, 208 were 'local' cases reported from different parts of the state. The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) area, the hotbed of the infection in the state, accounted for 175 of the new cases.
The bulletin said 1,993 people have been discharged from the hospital, while the number of active cases stood at 2,162.
PTI inputs
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