Six more NAC staffers test positive for virus

KATHMANDU, JULY 8

Six more staffers of Nepal Airlines Corporation have been confirmed to have contracted the coronavirus.

Of the seven staffers who were waiting for the result of the second test, six have tested positive.

“While the report of two crew members came out positive on Tuesday, reports of the remaining four, including one pilot, came today,” said Archana Khadka, spokesperson for NAC.

According to her, all the staffers who have tested positive in the second test — including the seven who tested positive on July 6 — have been shifted to the Armed Police Force Hospital in Balambu from Soaltee Crown Plaza.

“They are undergoing treatment for the virus.”

The seven staffers who tested positive in the first test had been isolated in Soaltee.

With the recent addition, 13 NAC staffers have contracted the infection so far, while around 50 staffers have been quarantined at Soaltee Hotel.

Meanwhile, an NAC source, seeking anonymity, said that some of the staffers had returned home before receiving the final report of their PCR test. “Later, their test results came positive.”

However, Khadka refuted any such incident. “We would never tolerate or allow any of our staffers to put not only their own lives but also of their family members at risk,” she said, urging not to be swayed by such baseless rumours.

Even though NAC has been rooting for health security at the hotel, the NAC source claimed that social distancing and other basic norms of quarantine were rarely followed by NAC staffers staying in the hotel. It has also been reported that NAC staffers had celebrated the 62nd anniversary of NAC in the hotel on July 1, with total disregard to precautionary measures.

“In the light of recent developments, some staffers have begun ordering meals from home,” the source added.

But Khadka claimed that after each repatriation flight, vehicles were arranged by the hotel to transport NAC staffers from the airport to the hotel, where they were allotted separate rooms. “Even the meals and other services are being provided separately,” she added.

Upaul Majumdar, general manager of Soaltee Crowne Plaza, also claimed that food was packaged separately for each NAC staffer. They collect it from the restaurant and consume it in their own rooms, Majumdar added.

So far, NAC has conducted more than 45 repatriation flights to several countries to evacuate stranded Nepalis.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on July 9, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.

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