Taj Rishikesh Resort shut for 48 hours after 16 employees test positive for COVID-19

A five-star resort in Uttarakhand’s Rishikesh has been closed for 48 hours after 16 of its employees tested positive for COVID-19 in a day. As per Narendra Nagar Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Yukta Mishra, 16 employees of Taj Rishikesh Resort and Spa were found to be infected with coronavirus on Thursday. Mishra added that the hotel has been closed for 48 hours to sanitise it fully. The resort’s entire staff will also be tested for COVID-19.

The authorities are also tracing people, who may have come in contact with the employees of the hotel. Twenty-three of the hotel's employees have tested positive for the disease over the last 10 days, health department sources said. Twenty-seven fresh cases of COVID-19 were reported on Thursday from Muni-ki-Reti area in Tehri district which include 16 from Taj Rishikesh Resort and Spa, eight tourists and three employees of an ashram. Twenty-two tourists from Gujarat who had come in a bus on a 15-day tour of north India via Pushkar, Jaipur, Udaipur, Mathura and Haridwar had tested positive for the virus on March 23.Rising cases of coronavirus at a time when Haridwar prepares for Kumbh which sees a huge gathering of devotees is a cause of concern for the state government. Kumbh mela is scheduled to begin on April 1.