11% Karnataka police test Covid positive, 87 lose lives

BENGALURU: Around 11% of the over 80,000 police force in Karnataka has tested positive for Covid-19 till date. As on November 2, there were 9,348 positive cases, of which 8,052 police personnel have already recovered and been discharged from hospital. Of the 9,348 cases, which include Bengaluru City police, 87 police personnel, including two women, unfortunately succumbed to the deadly virus. 

In Bengaluru City, 2,904 police personnel have so far tested positive, of whom 2,432 have recovered and been discharged from hospital, and 31 personnel lost their lives to Covid-19. “The State government has made Rs 30 lakh ex-gratia payment to each of the 84 cops who lost their lives on frontline Covid-19 duty. The families of three policemen, who we recently lost to the virus, will also receive the ex-gratia amount of Rs 30 lakh each.

One family member of all our deceased frontline police personnel will be offered a government job,” Director General & Inspector General of Police (DG&IGP) Praveen Sood told The New Indian Express. He added that of the 87 deaths, a majority was aged above 50 years. “But we have also lost some young policemen aged between 30 and 40 years,” said the police chief. 

Sood said there is a downhill trend in the number of Covid-19 cases among frontline police personnel, in the past couple of weeks. “The number has come down from 100 cases per day in July/August to 20 to 30 cases every day now. There are days when new cases are in single digits. This is a healthy development, but we cannot let our guard down. Covid-19 protocols are being strictly adhered to by the police,” 
added Sood. On April 30, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa had announced ex-gratia of Rs 30 lakh to anganwadi workers, helpers, pourakarmikas and police personnel who die due to Covid-19.