Panchkula DC asks govt officials to ‘take care of staff’ as Covid cases spike
Increasing number of staffers of medical education and research dept, CBSE and HPSC and personnel of ITBP and CRPF are testing positive
Concerned over the increasing number of Covid-19 cases among government employees, Panchkula deputy commissioner Mukesh Kumar Ahuja ordered officials on Monday to “take care of their staff.”
Those who have tested positive so far include 13 department of medical education and research (DMER) employees, Sector 16; 27 Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and five Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel; and one employee each from the Central Board of Secondary Education and Board of School Education Haryana.
“I have issued an order to heads of the departments in government institutes in Panchkula to take care of their staff. Recently, Corona positive cases have been reported from Haryana Public Service Commission, DMER, CRPF and ITBP. I have also written to the heads of offices of Panchkula administration” Ahuja said.
The DC said he had written to ITBP and CRPF create Covid care units in their own centres.
Dr Jasjeet Kaur, Panchkula civil surgeon, said random sampling at government offices has also been started. “There are at least 50 government institutes in Panchkula. To begin with, we will take five samples from each office.”
Most of the offices had working chambers, with three to four staffers in one. The main risk of infection arose from movement of files, as these pass through many hands, she said.
Initially, the health department will collect samples of Group-D employees, as they have the highest movement in offices to tackle tasks such as moving of files and arranging for refreshments.