Ranchi: Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren has gone into home quarantine as a minister of his cabinet and another MLA tested Corona positive on Tuesday. Both the minister and the MLA are leaders of the ruling Jharkhand Mukhti Morcha (JMM). Along with the two legislators, eighteen journalists from Dhanbad have tested positive for this highly contagious disease.
Few policemen also reportedly tested positive in Dhanbad as well as in Ranchi.
Covid-19 cases are on the rise in Jharkhand since the migrant workers returned to their native place. On Tuesday alone 179 new cases were reported. However, the state still has the highest recovery rate in India.
But the diagnosis of two of its party leaders—Water and Sanitation Minister Mithilesh Thakur and Tundi MLA Mathura Mahto, with whom CM Soren had a meeting two days back, has made the chief minister go into precautionary self isolation. As of now the CM has no Covid-19 symptoms. Hemant Soren took to his personal Twitter handle to share that he will be working from home.
Meanwhile, Giridih MLA Sudivya Kumar Sonu, who met the chief minister on Tuesday, has also decided to go into voluntary home quarantine as a precautionary measure. Sonu announced the same through social media.
This is the first instance of public representatives testing positive for corona virus in Jharkhand. However, in Dhanbad, where several journalists have tested positive for this dreaded virus, there is panic within the journalistic fraternity.
Unlike many of his counterparts elsewhere, the elected representatives, including CMs, have been criticized for not coming out in public to ensure adequate safety measures were in place during the lockdown and the required help was being given to those stranded in the state, Hemant Soren has been admired for visiting airports and railway stations to receive and see off migrant workers.
Later, JMM also announced that seeing covid-19 infections, its central office in Ranchi will be closed till next order.
Jharkhand has had 2996 covid-19 cases so far and 22 people have succumbed to it. While the number of active cases are 870.
