63 Choudwar Circle Jail inmates tests positive for coronavirus

CUTTACK: After a gap of three months, Choudwar Circle Jail turned into hotbeds of Covid-19 with 63 inmates testing positive for the virus on Saturday. The infected inmates are all male under trial prisoners (UTPs). 

Three UTPs of Block-1 had tested positive for the virus recently following which the jail authorities on Friday collected samples of all the 200 male inmates of the block. Of which, 63 inmates tested positive.

“All the 63 UTPs are asymptomatic and have been isolated. While the entire block has been sanitised, contact tracing of the infected inmates is going on and their family members have been asked to stay in quarantine,” said Choudwar Jail Superintendent Subhakanta Mishra. 

Detection of positive cases has created panic among 880 prisoners staying in the jail. However, the jail authorities are clueless about the source of infection despite adhering strictly to the standard operating procedure (SOP).

Earlier, nine inmates and a staffer of the jail had tested positive on July 10 and around 50 inmates were quarantined. Considering the situation, the jail authorities had set up quarantine facility for 64 male and eight female inmates and arranged 28 single cells for isolation.