COVID-19 | After one tests positive, over 100 families self-isolate at Rashtrapati Bhavan

Portion where President and his family stay not affected, says official

New Delhi : Standalone - Aerial view of Central Vista during morning fog. Left is the Viceroy's House (Rashtrapati Bhavan) and two blocks of the Government of India Secretariat (North Block and South Block). New Delhi on Wednesday. Photo: Shanker Chakravarty

Over a 100 families went on self-isolation within the President’s Estate after one person tested positive for COVID-19, an official release from Rashtrapati Bhavan said on Tuesday.

Confirming the news to The Hindu , the senior official said the main Rashtrapati Bhavan, where President Ram Nath Kovind and his family stay, remained unaffected.

“It may be clarified that till date no employee of President’s Secretariat has tested positive for COVID-19 and the Secretariat, along with the local administration, is taking all the preventive measures required under the government guidelines,” said the release.

The official statement, however, said that a family member of an employee of the President’s Secretariat had been in touch with a COVID-19 positive patient who passed away on April 13.

“As required under the guidelines, all the seven members of this family were moved to the quarantine facility at Mandir Marg on 16.04.2020. Subsequently, one of the family members, who was in contact with the deceased, tested positive. All other family members, including the employee of the President’s Secretariat, have tested negative,” the statement said.

Following guidelines from the designated authorities, movement of 115 families within the President’s Estate has been restricted.

“The residents of these houses are being provided doorstep delivery of essential commodities,” the statement said.

In the third week of March, President Kovind too decided to strictly follow the Health Ministry’s protocol after one Lok Sabha member, who was part of a delegation of MPs from Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan invited by President Kovind for a breakfast meeting, announced self-quarantine on March 19.

BJP MP from Dholpur, Dushyant Singh, went into self-isolation following reports that guests who had earlier attended a private party in Lucknow hotel had tested positive, including playback singer Kanika Kapoor .

In the past one month, said officials, Rashtrapati Bhavan had not only followed strict social distancing norms but also official meetings such as the Governor’s meet were conducted through video conferencing.