30 more Central Jail inmates test +ve, 102 results awaited

Nagpur: Thirty more Central Jail inmates tested Covid-19 positive on Friday raising concerns for the administration as 96 from the prison have been found infected so far.
Soon after the news of more prisoners testing positive spread, panic gripped the inmates and they went on a hunger strike demanding they also be tested for Covid. The matter was sorted out by senior jail officials, who addressed the inmates through videoconferencing, promising to ensure their check-up and more medical assistance soon.
Twelve inmates had tested Covid positive on Thursday. With Friday’s new cases, 54 jail staffers, four of their relatives and 42 inmates have tested positive so far.
The fresh jolt came in the morning with reports of 30 out of the 42 samples collected a day ago came positive. Another 102 samples were collected on Friday and the results are awaited.
The situation has aggravated for the already short staffed prison administration with 1,860 inmates to be monitored by 250 staffers.
Around 48 family members of the jail personnel have already been sent to institutional quarantine centre at Symbiosis by NMC team. Another 12 would be quarantined soon.
City police too played role in diffusing the tension in prison by extending medical help. Dr Sandeep Shinde, chief medical officer, distributed 2,000 homeopathic medicine kits.
Sources said the turmoil for the jail administration had started on Thursday itself when many of the senior officials, who had tested positive, protested against the administration of Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) where they were admitted. The situation had become volatile in the GMCH after the jail personnel, pointing out dirty water under their beds, questioned the unhygienic conditions there and demanded better facilities. The personnel were convinced to continue with the available facilities. Some of them were shifted elsewhere.
District collector Ravindra Thakare said not adhering to the Covid protocol has led to the precarious situation (96 cases) inside the jail. “The jail administration should have tested their personnel once again before allowing them to stay for 15-day period. It was a protocol failure which has resulted in this accident (positive cases),” he said.
Sources from Central Jail said that inmates who were engaged in distributing food had tested positive in the initial lot. “The food distributing team (of inmates) testing positive is a matter of grave concern,” said an official.