In Chennai alone, 24 police personnel, including an officer in the rank of assistant commissioner of police, who died on Thursday, had succumbed to the pandemic so far.

“We have noticed that more deaths were happening in a short period in the second wave compared to the first wave,” confessed an official.

According to police, a total of 2,088 police personnel are now under treatment for COVID across the State in various hospitals. In Chennai alone, as many as 700 cops are taking treatment, sources added.

Though the top brass had been issuing various standard operating procedures for field staff from time to time, the number of casualties has only gone up in the last few weeks.

Sources also noted that over 99,000 police personnel had taken vaccines in the State so far.

Instructions were already issued many times asking not to deploy police personnel above 50 years of age for field duty and also those with ailments and women personnel for vehicle checks and picketing. There were also instructions that the police personnel should be deployed on a five-hour shift basis and only those who have taken two vaccine doses should be deployed in crowded areas.

The latest circular from the State police headquarters had also said that the public should not be allowed to enter inside the police station building and any interaction with the members of the public should be done in an open space.