Puri servitor, found Covid negative before Rath Yatra, tests positive on Bahuda eve

BHUBANESWAR: In what may send the state government into a tizzy, a servitor of Puri Jagannath temple, who was allowed by the district administration to take part in June 23 Rath Yatra after being tested negative for Covid-19 virus, was found positive hours before Bahuda Yatra only a week after. The servitor is among the 12 persons, including personnel of Odisha fire services and railways, whose report came positive on Tuesday night.
District administration said the positive servitor was not allowed to take part in Bahuda Yatra. “We had conducted massive RT-PCR test in the last one week as per the Supreme Court’s directive to allow only Covid-19 negative persons and servitors on nine-day Rath Yatra duty. Samples of total 5,569 persons, including servitors, police personnel, district officials and some local contacts, who had Covid-like symptoms, were collected. Of them, 12 cases came positive. The reports came on Tuesday night,” Puri district collector Balwant Singh said.
The 12 positive cases included the servitor, five railway employees, four fire services personnel, a Hyderabad-returnee (local contact) and staff of a restaurant in Puri.
“The servitor was part of a massive RT-PCR test that was conducted on around 2,000 other servitors a day before June 23 Rath Yatra. His report had come negative. So he was allowed to take part in Rath Yatra. During the test on Rath eve, another servitor had tested positive and he was not allowed to participate in the festival. All his close contacts came negative following test,” Singh said.
Around 2,000 servitors, who had undergone Covid-19 test before Rath Yatra, were again subjected to RT-PCR test ahead of Bahuda. “We found that the servitor, who tested negative before Rath Yatra, tested positive on the eve of Bahuda. His contact tracing is in progress,” Singh said.
The district collector, however, did not ascertain whether the servitor had pulled the chariot on Rath Yatra and performed rituals in the subsequent days in Gundicha temple. At least 500 servitors had pulled each of the three chariots on Rath Yatra.
“The servitor testing positive is a matter of worry as Puri was under curfew on Rath Yatra, all establishments were shut and devotees were barred from taking part in the festival. I wonder the source of the infection. Administration should immediately trace other servitors, who might have come in contact with him on Rath Yatra. Though all other servitors except him tested negative a day before Bahuda, they should again be tested after some days as the gap between the two rounds of test was only seven days,” a doctor said.