DoPT officer who died on Sunday found coronavirus negative

 The COVID-19 report of G. Srinivas, a Section Officer in the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) who passed away on Sunday, has been found negative, officials said on Tuesday.

Srinivas's novel coronavirus or COVID-19 report received from Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) hospital's department of microbiology confirmed that he had no symptoms of the disease.

The sample reports of "nasopharyngeal and throat swab" was declared negative on Monday. In his 50s, Srinivas, a Telugu officer, succumbed to breathlessness on Sunday around 5 p.m. after arriving at RML hospital. He was feeling uneasy from Saturday.

Srinivas's sample was collected at RML after his family took him to the hospital when his condition suddenly deteriorated. He was declared dead on arrival at the hospital. As Srinivas' post-mortem and COVID-19 reports were awaited then and he had symptoms of COVID-19, it was suspected that he could be infected with the deadly virus. Srinivas' death had signalled sense of panic among his office colleagues as the cause of his death was not clear then.

With the report declaring the Section Officer COVID-19 negative, it throws good sign and a relief to his contacts in family and office colleagues amid the crisis when the virus has led to the killing of 934 people and infected over 21,500 people across the country. IANS