SRINAGAR: As many as 37 officials including 12 IAS and KAS officers have gone into self-quarantine in Jammu & Kashmir after a senior bureaucrat tested positive for COVID-19 in the Union Territory, sources told news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO)
Officials disclosed that 37 officials from different departments and institutions, who had come in contact with the bureaucrat in Srinagar and Jammu, have been quarantined. “Those include top- ranking bureaucrats, head of departments(HODs) and other officials,” they told KNO, adding that process is on to trace all contacts of the officer.
Of those quarantined, 12 are Indian Administrative and Kashmir Administrative Service officers holding different positions in government.
“Five administrative secretaries of Financial Commissioner, Principal Secretary-level and other ranks also figure among these 12 officers,” they said, adding that a number of officials of Health and Medical Education have also been quarantined.
The officer, who was in Srinagar recently to oversee arrangements in connection with returnees, tested positive on Sunday night after his sample was collected at Jammu airport.
Before his report came, the officer also participated in a high-level meeting held in Jammu, which was attended by top-ranking bureaucrats and officers of Health and Medical Education Department.
Last week, an advisor to Lieutenant Governor was also quarantined after his wife and son tested positive for COVID-19.