Coronavirus: Rajasthan HC suspends work for 3 days after health officials conduct virus tests
Chief Justice Indrajit Mahanty had tested positive for Covid-19 but his report later came negative.
The Rajasthan High Court has suspended work for three days starting Monday and has organised a coronavirus testing facility at its Jaipur Bench for its employees, NDTV reported.
On Friday, six people had tested positive after health authorities conducted tests in the High Court and the district courts, The New Indian Express reported.
“ln view of recent results of Covid-19 tests conducted at the Jaipur Bench of the Rajasthan High Court, it is notified that court and office work at the Rajasthan High Court (Jaipur Bench) shall remain suspended from August 17 to 19 for Covid-19 testing,” the notice said.
The registrar general of the High Court urged all persons concerned to get tested for the coronavirus at the testing facility.
Some reports, including a tweet from Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, suggested that High Court Chief Justice Indrajit Mahanty has tested positive for the coronavirus. However, Jaipur Chief Medical and Health Officer Dr Narottam Sharma said there was a “technical error” in Mahanty’s first RT-PCR test report, which had come out positive. Sharma confirmed that the chief justice tested negative in two subsequent tests.
The notice also did not mention Mahanty or his Covid-19 test reports.
Meanwhile, Rajasthan has reported 61,296 coronavirus cases and the toll stood at 876, according to the health ministry. India has reported 57,981 cases in 24 hours, taking the total count to 26,47,663. There are now 6,76,900 active cases, while as many as 19,19,842 people have recovered. The national toll has crossed the 50,000-mark.