The Madhya Pradesh Principal Secretary of the Public Health and Family Welfare, the seniormost bureaucrat in the department, tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday even as the toll owing to the illness reached double digits in the State.
She tested positive along with an Additional Director in the Directorate of Health Services tasked with implementing strategies to combat the outbreak in the State, according to Sudhir Dehariya, Bhopal Chief Medical and Health Officer.
The results came two days after the IAS officer tasked for procuring drugs and equipment for public healthcare institutions in the State had tested positive. The 2011-batch officer, the MD of the Madhya Pradesh Public Health Services Corporation Limited and CEO of the State Ayushman Bharat Yojana, had contracted the illness without having travel or contact history, said an official at the Directorate, requesting anonymity.
As more and more bureaucrats test positive for the virus in the State, others have begun staying in isolation in their homes. As a result, the government has prepared a proposed second line of 14 IAS officers to take charge of various departments.
Meanwhile, district Collector Tarun Kumar Pithode declared the houses of those who tested positive on Friday as “epicentres”, and the area within a kilometre of their radius as “containment area”. All those residing within the area will be screened.
Meanwhile, one of the largest wholesale traders of potatoes and onions in Bhopal’s Karond mandi tested positive too. District officials are screening other traders in the area.
