Ranchi MLA C.P. Singh became the third legislator in Jharkhand to be infected with the coronavirus after his swab sample tested positive on Wednesday.
A district health department team collected his samples on Tuesday along with over a dozen others of his family and house staff. Using twitter to break the news, Singh said, “I have tested positive for covid-19. I appeal (to) everyone who came in contact with me in the recent times to get tested for the virus to be safe. I am soon going to provide a detailed list of people who came in contact with me to the district administration so that further steps can be taken.”
On Tuesday, Singh took to social media accusing the district administration of gross negligence when it failed to collect swab samples from his house after two days of him coming in contact with an infected person. Singh told The Telegraph Online that he had isolated himself as a precautionary measure since Sunday night soon after one of his cousins, a regular visitor to his house, tested positive.
“On the day my cousin’s report came positive he had visited us in the morning. But he had not told us that he had given his sample. After he turned positive, I had isolated myself and requested the administration to take my samples and others related with me and sanitise my premises. But the administration kept dragging its feet till Tuesday evening,” Singh said.
Ranchi civil surgeon V.B. Prasad attributed the delay in collecting samples from Singh’s house to a “miscommunication”.
Singh is the third MLA in the 81-member state Assembly to have tested positive for Covid-19. Earlier this month, two JMM MLAs—state water resources minister Mithilesh Thakur (Garhwa) and Mathura Prasad Mahto (Tundi) tested positive. While Mahto is now undergoing treatment in TMH in Jamshedpur after being shifted there last week from Dhanbad, Thakur was discharged from RIMS in Ranchi on Tuesday night.