Bhubaneswar, Dec 16 (IANS): At least 15 employees of the steel and mines department of Odisha government have been found Covid positive, forcing the authority to close down the department for two days.

As per an official order issued by the steel and mines department, 15 of its employees have been infected by the virus recently. As a result, the office was closed on Thursday, and it will remain closed on Friday as well for undertaking disinfection work and breaking the chain of infection.

Very few officials have been asked to attend the office because of the urgent nature of work, officials said.

"The employees, who are not attending the office, will work from home and attend the office at a short notice," read the order.

As many as 173 persons tested Covid positive in the past 24 hours in the state, taking the total active caseload to 1,989.

Sources said out of the 173 new infections in 19 districts, 98 were reported from the quarantine centres and 75 as local contact cases.

Only one death from Khordha district was recorded in the health audit in the past 24 hours, pushing the total fatalities in the state to 8,440.