india

Updated: Apr 28, 2020 19:46 IST

Government think-tank Niti Aayog sealed its office in New Delhi on Tuesday after an employee tested positive for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), according to officials.

“Niti Aayog is following all protocols as per the ministry of health guidelines. The building has been sealed…sanitisation of the building is underway,” a senior Niti Aayog official who did not want to be named said.

Contacts of the person, a director-level official who got his report around 9am on Tuesday morning, have been asked to go on self-quarantine. The Niti Aayog office will be sealed for a couple of days.

“All officers of NITI Aayog are functional, available and currently working from home. As per the protocol of the Ministry of Health, the NITI Bhavan will resume normal operations after 48 hours,” Niti Aayog tweeted later in the day

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The body is tasked with leading some of the 11 empowered groups formed by the Union government to deal with the pandemic.

On April 22, the ministry of ministry of civil aviation sealed its headquarters at Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan in New Delhi’s Jor Bagh after an employee tested positive for Covid-19. The civil aviation ministry staffer was the first person in a central ministry to have contracted the infection. The office reopened on Monday.

“TThe @MoCA_GoI office at Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan is sanitized, safe, up & reopened. It was sealed after one of our colleagues tested positive for #COVID19 on 21st April. After operating from Nirman Bhawan & Udhyog Bhawan for a while, I worked out of my Civil Aviation office today,” Union civil aviation minister Hardeep Puri tweeted on Monday.

According to home ministry guidelines issued after the extension of the national lockdown until May 3, the government has ordered a phased return to office of central government ministry officials. The new guidelines call for 100% attendance by officers above the deputy secretary level and 33% attendance by junior staff.

The sweeping curbs were first imposed on March 25 for 21 days, and then extended by 19 days till May 3.