Senior priest of Dhenkanal temple tests positive for COVID-19

Dhenkanal:  A 70-year-old priest attached to one of the prominent temples in Dhenkanal town tested positive for COVID-19. This revelation has sent shock waves among the residents here.

The district administration and the endowment department, meanwhile, sanitised the temple.

According to Pradyumna Tripathy, Inspector, Endowment Department,  the infected priest was present in the temple on Rath Yatra and Bahuda Yatra days. He was not given any charge due to his ill health condition.  So the administration has already started the process of tracing out those who came in contact with the priest, he said.

Sub-collector Saphalya Mandit Pradhan, said all the priests of the temple have been asked to stay under home quarantine. New priests would be appointed in place of the home quarantined ones to ensure the rituals go uninterrupted. “Once the process of contact tracing is over, their swabs will be collected for test,” he added.

Sources said that the priest had gone to a Bhubaneswar based private hospital for check-up as he had been suffering from a chronic illness. The hospital authorities had collected his swab samples and he was found to have contracted the COVID-19 virus.

What makes people more fearful is that a female relative of the priest who was working at a hospital in the district is a high suspicion case.Meanwhile, chief district medical officer (CDMO) Dr Sujata Mishra said that the hospital has been completely sanitised.

PNN