30 Shillong Raj Bhavan staff test positive for COVID-19

About thirty staff members at Raj Bhavan here have contracted COVID-19, while Meghalaya Governor Satya Pal Malik has tested negative for the viral infection, Raj Bhavan officials said on Sunday.

“Thirty staff members in Raj Bhavan have tested positive for COVID-19 till date and more test is going on,” a Raj Bhavan official said on conditions of anonymity.

“The Governor and his two personal staff, besides one of the ADCs (Aide-de-Camps) to the Governor have tested negative, while the test report of another ADC is still awaited and some of the test results are expected to come tomorrow (Monday),” the official said.

“Though the Governor has tested negative, he is also in self- isolation,” he said, adding that the entrance gate and rear gate of the Raj Bhavan have been barricaded.

Initially, the swab samples of the Secretary to Governor, Pravin Bakshi, had also tested positive for the viral infection through RT- PCR on Friday, but, he tested negative on a second re-test, which was conducted on Sunday through CBNAAT at private-run Nazareth Hospital in the city.

Meanwhile, Raj Bhavan officials expressed surprise about the government not briefing the media on detection of positive cases in the house of the constitutional head of the state.

“We found it ludicrous that the Health and Family Welfare department is not briefing the media on the matter,” the official said.