The Poojappura Central Prison has begun to show signs of a rapid spread of COVID-19 with 41 more inmates and an assistant prison officer testing positive for the infection on Friday. In all, 101 prisoners have been diagnosed with the viral infection in three days, sparking fears of a cluster development in the confined facility.
The fresh cases were diagnosed when 98 prisoners were subjected to antigen tests. Testing has been intensified in the central prison after a 71-year-old inmate was diagnosed with the disease. Fifty-nine inmates tested positive when 107 prisoners were tested on Wednesday.
While cases have so far been limited to the seventh block which houses aged prisoners, antigen testing was extended to the 10th block, housing inmates suffering from mental illness, on Thursday, official sources said.
While the sources of their infection are yet to be identified with none of the prisoners having any recent travel history, prison officials point out several possibilities.
The infection could have reached the prison through jail officers who return home after duty, officers manning the ‘freedom food’ units at the Government Medical College Hospital and other government-run hospitals here or prisoners involved in the functioning of the Food for Freedom cafeteria.
Since the COVID-19 outbreak, visits by prisoners’ kin have been restricted and their family members have been permitted to interact through voice and video calls. There are roughly 1,000 prisoners in the central prison.
According to official sources, all who tested positive, except the first patient who has co-morbidities, are asymptomatic. They are currently being treated in the hospital on the prison premises.