Himachal CM Jai Ram Thakur tests positive for Covid

Tribune News Service

Shimla, October 12

Himachal Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Monday tested positive for COVID-19.

He had been in quarantine for the past one week.

The report was confirmed by the Chief Minister himself on his Twitter account.

“A few days ago, due to contact with a corona positive person, I was quarantined at my residence for the past one week, due to some symptoms of corona from last two days, I got a corona test done today, which has been reported positive,” he wrote on Twitter.

“I am isolated in my official residence on the advice of doctors,” he added.

On October 5, the Chief Minister had decided to keep himself in home quarantine for three days as a precautionary measure against COVID-19, an official spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said the Chief Minister on October 3 had met some persons in Manali, who tested positive for coronavirus infection.

Though it cannot be said with certainty from whom the Chief Minister could have got the infection but his private secretary, RN Batta, had tested positive and had travelled in a helicopter with Thakur from Manali.

Besides the Chief Minister, Banjar MLA Surinder Shourie had also tested positive on October 1 before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Manali for the inauguration of the Atal Rohtang tunnel.

The MLA had spent the entire day with the Chief Minister while the preparations for the Prime Minister’s visit were being reviewed.

So far, three ministers in the Jai Ram cabinet have tested positive.

They are Power Minister Sukh Ram Chaudhary, Irrigation and Public Health Minister Mahender Singh and Urban Development Minister Suresh Bharadwaj.

About a dozen MLAs, including Reeta Dhiman, Paramjit Singh Pammi, Lakhwinder Rana, Rakesh Jamwal, Vinod Kumar, Mohan Lal Brakta and Surinder Shourie have tested positive for the infection, with most of them having recovered.

Rajya Sabha MP Indu Goswami, too, had tested positive ahead of the Prime Minister’s visit to Manali.