A 56-year-old assistant sub-inspector (ASI) attached to the Special Branch of the Pune Police succumbed to the novel coronavirus while undergoing treatment at a private hospital in the city’s Hadapsar area late on Monday.
According to authorities, the ASI, who was diabetic and had high blood pressure, became the third police personnel in the city to die due to the pandemic.
Sources said that the ASI had been on sick leave for the past few months after an accident. He is said to have tested positive for COVID-19 a fortnight ago, following which his family members were quarantined.
Last month, a 57-year-old ASI attached to the city’s Faraskhana police station and a 42-year-old traffic constable had succumbed to the disease.
Till date, more than 70 police personnel in the city have tested positive of whom 46 have recovered.
44 new cases
Meanwhile, 44 new cases were reported over a 12-hour span on Tuesday as the district’s cumulative case tally (including deaths and recoveries) rose to 12, 288, said authorities.
“22 new cases have been reported since Tuesday evening till midnight, and a further 23 cases till today [Tuesday] morning,” said Pune District Health Officer Bhagwan Pawar.
The district’s total death toll currently stands at 511.
However, of the total cases, only 3,855 are active ones, while as many as 7,922 persons have been discharged thus far with the district’s recovery rate at present standing at 62.73%.
As per figures given by the Pune Zilla Parishad’s Health Department till Monday evening, there were 3,810 (not counting the new cases) active positive cases in various hospitals across the district of whom 3,019 are undergoing treatment in hospitals in Pune city, 496 in Pimpri-Chinchwad, and as many as 295 in Pune rural areas.
As many as 269 among these were in a critical condition.
While the number of active cases in the Pune rural region have declined in the past few days, Pimpri-Chinchwad has witnessed a significant surge since May 19, with the township adding an estimated total of 400 active cases since then.
Dr. Pawar said that till Tuesday, the samples of 88,383 persons had been tested in Pune district of which more than 74,000 returned negative. A total 5,374 persons were now in quarantine facilities in the district.
Meanwhile, Aurangabad district reported a big overnight spike of 93 new cases as the district’s total case tally inched closer to the 3,000 mark to reach 2,998 on Tuesday.
However, officials said of these 1,209 were active while 1,551 persons had recovered and had been discharged. A total 158 persons have succumbed to the infection so far in Aurangabad.