At least six staff members of the Taj group of hotels in Mumbai have been hospitalised after testing positive for COVID-19. The Taj Mahal Palace, The President, Taj Lands End, Taj Santacruz and Ginger Andheri have offered their premises to the medical fraternity and health workers.
The Taj staff were admitted to Bombay Hospital and are reported to be stable. Dr. Gautam Bhansali, consultant physician at the hospital, said they had very mild symptoms.
A spokesperson of the Indian Hotels Company Limited, which manages the Taj group, in an e-mail reply to The Hindu said, “Approximately 500 of our employees who are at work in our Mumbai hotels have been tested. Those who have tested positive mostly were asymptomatic, showing absolutely no signs of illness. However, staff testing positive and symptomatic were duly hospitalized and others who were in contact with them have immediately been put in quarantine in accordance with World Health Organization (WHO) norms and guidelines issued by the local Government authorities.”
South Mumbai’s Taj Mahal Palace does not have any guests and is working with minimum staff in areas like housekeeping, security, maintenance and staff dining to ensure the upkeep and maintenance of the hotel.
“IHCL has been supporting the Government with various humanitarian initiatives by offering its hotels to the medical fraternity, health workers, supporting certain States with quarantine facilities and also providing almost 4 lakh meals till date to doctors, health workers and migrant workers,” said the statement.
“In keeping with our values of being a responsible company and as a matter of abundant precaution, we have been proactively ramping up testing criteria for our employees, especially those who are in the frontlines at these times,” said the statement adding that safety of its associates and their families remain paramount during these unprecedented times and the company remains committed to operating under all the guidelines of the WHO, governmental agencies and other regulatory bodies.
