THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The secretariat is in the middle of a Covid outbreak as 38 people in the finance, public administration and home departments and in the co-operative society tested positive for the virus. Minister Kadakampally Surendran and the General Secretary of the Secretariat Employees Association are among the people affected by the virus.

In this context, the Secretariat Action Council submitted a petition to the Chief Minister, the Chief Secretary and the Secretary to the Department of Public Administration, directing that the entire staff be tested for Coivd and that the work of the Secretariat be reduced to 50 percent of the staff a day. Due to the high number of patients, the finance department will only be open next Monday.

In the letter to the Chief Secretary, the Finance Secretariat Employees Congress demanded that the Financial Development Hall be completely closed for another week.

Even when the infections are on the rise, the House Keeping Under-Secretary has directed that the election of the office bearers of the Secretariat Staff Housing Co-operative Society be held on March 3 in the Durbar Hall of the Secretariat and in the Dining Hall of the Assembly Building.