21 police officers of AR camp test Covid positive

KOCHI: 21 police officers attached to the Armed Reserve (AR) camp in Kochi have tested positive for Covid-19, sending around 50 other officials into quarantine.While 15 were tested positive on Tuesday, further six officers were declared infected for the disease on Wednesday.  Since most of the infected personnel were deployed for various duties across the city, health officials fear that they might have infected several other people during the course of their duty. 

Four drivers and a few senior civil police officers have been tested positive for the viral disease. About 600 police officers are deputed to duty at the AR Camp, of which around 100 would be available at any given time. The disease spread among police force has become a serious concern.

Earlier, 59 police officers were quarantined at Kalamasserry police station after two cops there tested positive in June. Four police officers of Ernakulam North police station also were tested positive recently.Though the department had planned to keep half of the available personnel on reserve to avoid disruption of services of police stations, it failed to take off due to technical problems.In a directive, DCP G Poonguzhali has asked every police station within the city limits to keep 20 per cent of its staff strength as an additional force, so as to deploy them for station duties in the wake of the spread of the pandemic.