Four Covid patients died at Tata Main Hospital on Monday amid indications that the coronavirus was spreading rapidly among frontline medical workers and in urban areas, prompting the Jamshedpur Notified Area Committee (JNAC) and Mango Notified Area Committee (MNAC) to seal their offices and send staff on home quarantine.

In all, 54 people tested positive for the virus in East Singhbhum district in the past 24 hours, taking the total number of Covid cases to 875. Of the 54 cases, 14 were from the district transport office, nine from the police department, one each from JNAC and MNAC, four from the MGM Medical College Hospital and one from the MGM Medical College's virology department.

The office of the senior SP of Jamshedpur was sealed as six of the nine Covid cases among policemen were from there. Kadma, Sitaramdera and Golmuri police stations were sealed as the three remaining cases were from there.

With the offices of two civic authorities sealed, disposal of dead bodies, carried out by JNAC, had become a tedious affair. "Our field staff are involved in getting bodies disposed of under the supervision of city manager Ravi Bharti at the Subarnarekha crematorium. For now, we have not sent Bharti on quarantine as he is a hefty and healthy individual,” JNAC special officer Krishna Kumar told The Telegraph Online.

Among those who died on Monday, three were women from different localities of the steel city, namely, an 83-year-old from Kadma, who was admitted to the Tata Main Hospital's Covid ward on Sunday; a 60-year-old from Mango, who was admitted on Saturday, and a 51-year-old admitted on Wednesday.

An 80-year-old man from Baridih, admitted to the hospital on Saturday, also died on Monday.

With Monday’s deaths, the toll in East Singhbhum district rose to 11. TMH has recorded 14 deaths in all, three of whom were outside the district.

District surveillance officer A.K. Lal said the situation was alarming as health workers were now getting infected. The chief technician at the MGM Medical College's virology department where the swab samples are examined tested positive. He has been admitted to Tata Main Hospital.

"Despite maintaining utmost precaution, police, health and civic body officials, who are our frontline warriors against the coronavirus, are becoming victims of the pandemic. People will have to be more cautious against the spread of the virus,” he said.