Air India
Representational image.

The Air India headquarters in Delhi was on Tuesday closed down for two days after a peon tested positive for coronavirus.

Everyone, including the chairman and managing director Pradeep Singh Kharola, will work from home, the national carrier was quoted as stating in reports.

The office is being sanitized.

There are up to 200 people, including visitors, in the building at any given time, according to officials.

“As Air India accords top priority to the safety and well-being of its employees, the building will be closed for sanitisation adhering to protocol. All support is being extended to the employee concerned,” the airline said in a statement.

The man who tested positive for COVID-19 is in home quarantine.

Yesterday, five Air India pilots believed to have coronavirus tested negative.

All Boeing 787 Dreamliner pilots, they had reportedly had false-positive results because of faulty test kits.

Re-tests had been carried out on priority because of suspicion that the results may not be accurate.

A technician and a driver have also tested positive.

It is unclear at the moment whether the two will be re-tested.

Both are in quarantine.

The five pilots tested false positive after 77 pilots of the state-run airline were tested for the virus on Saturday before they could operate any repatriation flights.

None of the five pilots, all based in Mumbai, had any symptoms and were advised home quarantine.

The last time any of them operated a flight was on April 20.