NEW DELHI: A senior Central Reserve Police Force doctor based in Delhi tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday.
Preventive measures have been taken to isolate people who had come in contact with him. This included many people from paramilitary forces, officials said.
The doctor, in the rank of Chief Medical Officer, was posted in the office of the Additional Director General (Medical) of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) which is in-charge of overall supervision and monitoring of healthcare delivery services for the paramilitary forces.
He had a travel history to Maharashtra, which has recorded the highest number of cases, for some family work and he reported to work on March 23.
The official would have come earlier but for Janta Curfew his train was cancelled and he had to come through a long, circuitous route. He showed symptoms of cold and cough.
On March 30th, the doctor developed mild temperature and sore throat, sources told this newspaper. Everybody at the ADG, medical office, has been instructed to work from home.
A senior Home Ministry official said that all precautionary measures are being taken and details of 12 people who came in close contact with him are being traced.
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The doctor has been admitted to the isolation ward of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Haryana’s Jhajjar. The doctor was staying at a transit officers’ mess in Saket which was sanitised, officials said, adding that working staff and guests living at the mess have also been quarantining.
The number of COVID-19 cases climbed to 1,965 in the country on Thursday while the death toll rose to 50, according to the Union Health Ministry.