Six staff members of the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel at Colaba have been admitted to a private hospital as they are suspected to have contracted the COVID-19 virus. While samples have been taken from these staff members, their tests reports are still awaited. Dr Gautam Bhansali, consultant surgeon at Bombay Hospital, said the patients admitted are employees of the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, Colaba, and are currently undergoing treatment at the hospital.
“We have taken the samples of the staff, which have been sent to Kasturba Hospital for testing,” Bhansali said. Dr Daksha Shah, deputy executive health officer with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said that earlier, three employees of Taj Mahal Palace Hotel had tested positive, following which they were isolated at Bombay Hospital.
“Now, few patients have been hospitalized, but I don’t know whether they are from Taj Hotel or not,” Shah said. A statement released by a spokesperson for Indian Hotels Company Limited (ICHL), which owns the Taj chain of hotels, read, “IHCL has been supporting the Government with various humanitarian initiatives by offering its hotels to the medical fraternity, health workers, supporting certain states with quarantine facilities and also providing almost 4 lakh meals till date to Doctors, health workers and migrant workers.
The President, Taj Lands End, Taj Santacruz and Ginger Andheri are also hosting the medical fraternity in close cooperation with BMC. In keeping with our values of being a responsible company and as a matter of abundant precaution, we have been proactively ramping up testing criteria for our employees, especially those who are in the front lines at these times.”
“Approximately 500 of our employees who are at work in our Mumbai hotels have been tested to date. Those who have tested positive mostly were asymptomatic showing absolutely no signs of illness. However, staff testing positive and symptomatic were duly hospitalized and others who were in contact with them have immediately been put in quarantine in accordance with World Health Organization (WHO) norms and guidelines issued by the local Government authorities.
Taj Mahal Palace and Tower does not have any guests at the current time and only very minimal staff in areas like housekeeping, security, maintenance and staff dining are present to ensure the upkeep and maintenance of the hotel,”
“The safety of our associates and their families remain paramount during these unprecedented times. We remain committed to operating under all the guidelines of the WHO, Governmental agencies and other regulatory bodies,” the spokesperson added.
