Several health ministry employees test positive for COVID-19, premises to be sanitised

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Several officials of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoH&FW) have tested positive for coronavirus. The Ministry will keep its premises and office of the Directorate General of Health Services shut on June 6 and 7 for sanitisation.

A memorandum issued by the Ministry said except the emergency COVID-19 team, no one else will be permitted in the premises for these two days. Issuance of visitor passes is also halted, the Hindu BusinessLine reported.

Visitors on the premises with permission from the officer they are meeting will be “properly screened” and social distancing will have to be maintained at all times in the office, the memorandum stated.

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The Ministry has also listed 40 rules to be followed, including – no spitting, ban on receiving physical files, practise of respiratory hygiene i.e. cover coughs and sneezes, stopping use of air conditioners, and gathering of more than five people at any spot in the office, among others.

The rule to limit a gathering to five persons could impact Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan’s video conferences, usually held with state representatives and media persons – numbering more than five, it noted.

To maintain proper social distancing, group lunches have been banned and the Ministry has directed that desks be arranged in a ‘zigzag’ pattern so that employees are not sitting directly across each other. Those still awaiting test results have been asked to skip office until results are out.

Apart from this, all internal meetings have been shifted to video format, drivers from containment zones have been barred, wearing of masks inside the office is mandatory, it added. Loitering and crowding would also be considered as flouting of social distancing norms, as per the notice.

In India, total confirmed cases crossed 2 lakh standing at 216,919, and 6,075 deaths reported, according to the Health Ministry's latest update. Globally, over 66.3 lakh infections and nearly 4 lakh deaths have been reported, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

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