The district health officials sealed the Fortune Park Centre Point Hotel here after 11 foreign guests tested positive for the coronavirus on Thursday.

One hotel staffer has also tested positive. All of them have been quarantined at the hotel.

District civil surgeon Dr RN Jha revealed that around 46 foreigners entered Jamshedpur between December 5 and 8. All of them had checked in at Fortune Park Centre Point Hotel in Bistupur.

“Most of these international tourists hailing from countries like Philippines, Ghana, South Africa, New Zealand, and Zambia, were employees of an international firm and had come here for a contractual job at Tata Steel’s Pellet Plant. We got their swab test done at the Tata Main Hospital. Out of the 46 foreigners, 11 tested positive. We got the report on Thursday evening. After that we sealed the Fortune Centre Point hotel,” said Dr Jha while talking to The Telegraph Online.

The civil surgeon further added that after the foreign nationals tested positive, the health department decided to conduct a sample test for all the hotel staff.

“Of the 29 hotel staffers that underwent the Covid test, one tested positive. As a precautionary measure, we have not just sealed the hotel but have also quarantined all the occupants including the hotel staff inside the hotel,” he said.

The detection of 12 Covid-19 cases has made the East Singhbhum health department officials intensify their screening operations at other hotels on Thursday evening, as many of them have organized special programmes for the year-end bash.

According to a senior official at the district civil surgeon’s office, requesting anonymity said, “The district health department will have to be more vigilant in implementing Covid norms. Foreign nationals entering the city need to be scanned for the deadly virus. The detection of so many cases from a single hotel is ominous for steel city.”