Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Friday, 10 July, cancelled all his day’s engagements after some staff members tested positive for the novel coronavirus. He will be working from home for the next few days. According to sources, the staff who tested positive included a driver and an electrician who work at Krishna, the CM’s office-cum-residence in Bengaluru,
“Employees at my official residence Krishna tested positive due to which I will be working from home for a few days via video calls. There is no need for anyone to worry as I am healthy. Everyone please take precautions while working, maintain physical distance and wear masks compulsorily,” the CM said in a statement.
A source in the CMO said the CM will be staying at his personal residence in Dollar’s Colony in Bengaluru. Another 94 persons working in the CM’s office have tested negative, sources confirmed.
Staff Tested Positive Earlier Too
Another source said that the CM did not come in contact with the staff members who tested positive and that it was only for a precautionary measure that the CM won’t be out in public for the next five days.
This is not the first time that staff members at the CM’s home office had tested positive for the novel coronavirus since the onset of the pandemic.
On 19 June, the same office was shut for sanitisation after an employee’s relative tested positive for coronavirus. The office was re-opened after all sanitisation and fumigation exercises were done in two days’ time.
Later on 25 June too, four staff members at BS Yediyurappa’s official residence Krishna tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
Both these incidents forced the chief minister to conduct his meetings of the day at the Vidhana Soudha instead of 'Krishna'.
With a record 2,228 positive cases on Thursday, the southern state's COVID-19 numbers shot up to 31,105, including 17,782 active patients. 457 people have died of the infection till date, with 17 patients dying in the last 24 hours
Of the new cases in the state, Bengaluru accounted for 1,373, taking the total in the state to 13,882, including 10,870 active patients
(The story has been published in an arrangement with The News Minute.)
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