K S Dhatwalia, Principal Director General of Press Information Bureau, has tested positive for COVID-19 and is apparently admitted to AIIMS.
Dhatwalia, who by virtue of heading the PIB, is additionally principal spokesperson to the central government.
Reportedly, he was admitted in the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) trauma centre at 7 pm, AIIMS trauma centre is supposed to be a dedicated COVID-19 hospital. However, no official report is given about his health.
The National Media Centre, where his office is situated, has been closed and can remain shut on Monday because the entire building is going to be sanitised.
The NMC is probably going to stay closed on Tuesday also and a huge contact tracing exercise is being administered in accordance with the quality protocol, they said.
Press Information Bureau (PIB) activities, including the holding of press conferences, will apparently take place at Shastri Bhawan till the NMC is totally sanitised and reopened.
Dhatwalia was last publicly seen when he accompanied Union Ministers Narendra Singh Tomar and Prakash Javadekar while the latter briefed the press on the decision taken by the ministry.
Meanwhile, a Rajya Sabha Secretariat official tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday, the fourth such case reported within the Parliament complex thus far, sources said here. Out of the four, three were found to possess contracted the infection after Parliament resumed operations on May 3 when Lockdown 2.0 ended and were on duty.
The director-level officer, who attended work on May 28, was found positive for the infection alongside his relations, they said.
Two floors of the Parliament's Annexe building are sealed, the sources added.
This is the second case of a politician posted within the building testing positive for the infection.
Earlier, a politician of the Lok Sabha Secretariat working within the editorial and translation (E&T) services department was found positive for COVID-19.
Post detection of the official with Coronavirus, the premise is completely sanitised before resuming operations and continued to require all precautions.
Employees are subjected to thorough screening before they enter Parliament.
All vehicles also are sanitised before entering the complex.
The sources suggested that there are a couple of symptomatic cases of coronavirus among employees working in several secretariats and branches at Parliament and its adjoining buildings.
Government buildings close to the Parliament complex like Krishi Bhawan, Shastri Bhawan and NITI Aayog, that holds offices of several ministries and ministers, were sealed for a day or two.