Newsroom Sealed after 28 Zee News Employees Test Positive for COVID-19

Zee Media said on Monday that 28 employees have tested positive for COVID-19 and its office, newsroom, and studios here have been sealed.

Editor-in-chief of Zee News, Sudhir Chaudhury in a statement said that the global pandemic has now become a personal story for Zee Media. "Last Friday one of our colleagues tested positive for COVID-19. As a responsible organization, we initiated mass testing of all those who could have been in direct or indirect contact with the said individual," said Chaudhury in the statement.

"So far 28 of our teammates have tested positive. Fortunately, most of them are asymptomatic and not complaining of any discomfort. We believe this is because of early diagnosis and pro-active intervention." Zee News said in a statement.

"Our office, newsroom, and studios have been sealed for sanitization. The Zee News team has been shifted to an alternative facility for the time being," he said.

The testing of the rest of the employees will continue. The ICMR too has relaxed its testing norms to allow it to test asymptomatic individuals who might be COVID-19 positive and carriers of the disease.

"This might lead to a greater number of COVID-19 cases being identified, isolated, and treated. We believe this is the best way to fight the pandemic," Chaudhary said.

Since Noida has a lot of containment zones, aggressive testing, isolation, and treatment is the only way to ensure the safety of teammates, he added.

At the moment, Zee Media Corporation Ltd has 2,500 employees, by far the largest in the private sector. "We are committed to the safety of each one of them," the statement said.

"These are challenging times but COVID-19 has not been able to shake the morale of the team. Zee Media is raring to go, as always. We assure our viewers that our fearless coverage will continue. Such challenges will not be able to break our resolve to discharge our duties with utmost sincerity and unmatched passion. We wish all our employees a speedy recovery," Zee Media announced.

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