SAI Bengaluru Under Complete Lockdown After Deceased Cook Tests Positive for Covid-19

The Bengaluru centre of the Sports Authority of India (SAI) has had a scare after a senior cook of the centre passed away and later, tested positive for coronavirus on Tuesday.

The senior cook that died was a popular face among the campers and he had been at the SAI centre only last Friday. He visited the campus from his home nearby for a meeting, which was called by the officials to discuss the reopening of the mess after the lockdown.

The cook attended the aforementioned meeting on Friday along with around 25-30 people, a TOI source said.

"On Tuesday, all the persons who attended the meeting were asked to go into quarantine," TOI quoted the source as saying.

The source further said that the cook was screened before he entered the campus and he was "absolutely fine that day".

On Monday, he had a cardiac arrest following which he was admitted in a hospital, where he passed away. Only on Tuesday his sample came back positive for Covid-19, the source added.

The Indian women's hockey team had a meeting in the same hall hours after the meeting regarding the mess, which was attended by the deceased, the source told.

Following the turn of events, the Bengaluru centre has been put under complete lockdown and no employee who stayed outside is now allowed on the campus. Officials and coaches residing as the centre are the ones working as cooks and security as well.

"The senior director had taken strict measures to avoid any slip-ups and despite his best efforts this unfortunate incident happened," sources said.

The Indian men's and women's hockey teams have been residing at the centre since the lockdown started as they were camping there before the turn of events.

Apart from them, 10 members of the athletics squad and 15 SAI officials and their family also live there.

Hockey India, on Wednesday, ruled out shifting the hockey teams out of the centre despite the cook's case as they said he had no access to the players.

PTI quoted a top official as saying that there was no reason to panic as the deceased had no access to the players' accommodation zone.