As many as 32 of these cases have been reported from a group of 100-odd soldiers deployed at Jama Masjid and Chandni Maha areas with the Delhi Police to enforce the lockdown. (Express file photo by Amit Mehra)
After a coronavirus outbreak in CRPF’s Mayur Vihar camp, the Border Security Force (BSF) is facing a serious situation with the spread of the infection. On Sunday, 25 BSF personnel tested positive for COVID-19 in Delhi, while 12 tested positive in Tripura, taking the total infection toll in the force to 54.
As many as 32 of these cases have been reported from a group of 100-odd soldiers deployed at Jama Masjid and Chandni Maha areas with the Delhi Police to enforce the lockdown.
“From the 126th Battalion BSF Company deployed with Delhi Police, in Jama Masjid area, 25 more BSF personnel have been tested positive today. This company has a strength of 94. Results of nine came yesterday, of which six were positive,” BSF spokesperson Shubhendu Bharadwaj said.
Sources said one more person from a different battalion had been deployed at Jama Masjid and he too has tested positive. Results of 80 personnel were received on Sunday, of which 25 were found positive. Results for five are awaited.
Sources said contact tracing of all personnel is being done by Delhi health authorities even though investigations into how they contracted the infection has not yielded results so far.
At BSF’s R K Puram hospital, meanwhile, five medical staff have been found positive, along with two cancer patients and one with a kidney ailment. These patients are suspected to have acquired the infection at a super-speciality hospital where they were receiving treatment.
“A few critically ill patients are admitted here (at R K Puram), who visit different super speciality hospitals from this ward. One such kidney patient, who visits an outside super-speciality hospital for dialysis, has been found positive on April 29. Two other BSF personnel suffering from cancer, who visit a cancer speciality hospital, from the BSF hospital ward, were found positive on April 30, “ Bharadwaj said.
Fourteen BSF personnel have tested positive in Tripura till date. The count in the CRPF had reached 135 on Saturday, while five ITBP personnel too are said to be positive.