Cases from Central Jail fastest to 100 from city areas

Nagpur: One male inmate, two women guards and four family members of the Nagpur central prison staff tested Covid-19 positive on Saturday. In five days, the total has risen to 106.
As per Nagpur Municipal Corporation records, cases connected to the jail are the fastest to the first 100. Mominpura, Satranjipura and Naik Talao Bangladesh — the others with 100+ cases — took more days.
The civic body is doing active contact tracing and quarantining of residents of jail quarters in Ajni. The area is yet to be barricaded into a containment zone.
With the jail under the home ministry’s jurisdiction, state minister Anil Deshmukh, along with additional DG (prison) Sunil Ramanand were at the Central Jail on Saturday. Deshmukh said ‘Covid distancing’ was maintained in the jail which has 1,750 inmates against the capacity of 1,800.
Till the filing of this report, 43 prisoners, seven jailers, 47 guards, eight family members of staffers and one prison woman doctor tested positive since the first case came to the fore on June 30. While 48 persons were taken to the institutional quarantine centre a day ago, 13 were sent on Saturday.
It’s reliably learnt that the first jail guard who tested positive may have been the ‘super spreader’. His son returned from Mumbai and was at home with him. This guard later entered the jail for a 15-day lockdown pattern with 103 others. On the 14th day, he developed symptoms and later tested positive along with his son.
On Saturday, around 20 positive inmates were shifted to government medical college and hospital (GMCH) and another 21 to Indira Gandhi government medical college and hospital (IGGMCH). Around 17 asymptomatic patients were sent back to the jail for treatment at their respective barracks as per the new government guidelines.
The prisoners protested via a hunger strike for proper treatment. It led to the latest decision of shifting them to the designated Covid hospitals where prison personnel and their family members are already recuperating.
“Out of nearly 37,000 inmates across the state in different jails, the prison administration, by following the court orders, has already released 11,000 under-trials booked for offences with punishment of less than seven years. This was done with the aim to maintain Covid distancing in every jail, including Nagpur. We are trying to get more bails or emergency paroles,” said Deshmukh.
The state home minister, who interacted with inmates and jail personnel to know their grievances, said 41 prisoners and 56 staffers are now recuperating at different Covid centres after testing positive. “Nine jails in the state were in lockdown mode. There are a numbers of ways by which the infection can spread,” said Deshmukh.
The minister added that 414 prisoners tested positive across different prisons in the state and 281 have recovered. In a similar manner, Deshmukh also informed that 162 jail staffers were infected in the state but 90 have already been discharged.
The jail administration informed Deshmukh that a five-doctor team is in place round the clock to treat the prisoners. The home minister also inspected the food and other services.
Ramanand stated that 37 temporary prisons have been opened in 27 districts of the state for screening and testing of newcomers. In such temporary arrangements, 2,665 new comers to the jail were accommodated before taking them inside the prison premises.