In two weeks, Delhi jails report 69 cases; officials prepare action plan

NEWDELHI: The number of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases in Delhi’s three prisons — Tihar, Mandoli and Rohini — have gone up from 68 on June 21 to 137 till July 3, officials records show, prompting the jail authorities to come up with a 24-point action plan including rapid antigen testing and contact tracing to contain the spread of the viral disease.

Officials in the three prisons attributed the sharp rise in the number of cases to the aggressive testing. A total of 480 tests – 237 RT-PCR and 243 rapid antigen – have been done so far.

Director-General (prisons) Sandeep Goel said the 24-point actionable plan includes the creation of a special task force (STF) in each of the three prisons to carry out the contract tracing of the Covid-19 positive prisoners and staffers and regular screening of jail inmates. The STF will comprise of the chief medical officer, superintendent and a couple of other senior officials of the concerned jail.

Goel said a rapid antigen testing camp has been set up at the government dispensary at Tihar residential complex for around 2,600 prison staffers, including 800 security personnel from Tamil Nadu Special Police, who are deployed on the security duty at the three jails.

Till July 3, according to the data shared by Tihar jail administration, 243 jail staff of the total 2,600 have got themselves tested, following the contact tracing of positive Covid-19 inmates and jail staff. Of them, 38 tested Covid-19 positive.

“The rapid antigen testing in our jail complexes is primarily for our staff members. The inmates are mostly being tested by RT-PCR methodology. Apart from those identified through the contact tracing procedure, the rapid antigen testing is done on voluntary basis too,” said Goel.

Of the total 137 cases, 53 are prisoners and 84 jail staff. Among the 53 prisoners, one, a murder convict, Kanwar Singh,62, died in Mandoli Jail on June 15. In all, 29 Covid-19 positive prisoners have recovered. From the 84 Covid-19 positive jail staff, 23 have recovered, the data shows.

Tihar Prisons (which includes Mandoli and Rohini) is the largest prison complex in Asia and nearly 13,600 prisoners were lodged there before the lockdown was announced on March 24.

Dr Jugal Kishore, head of the department of community medicine at Safdarjung hospital, said, “Since jails are crowded places and inmates stay in congested spaces, the Covid-19 virus can spread faster in such places. Preventive measures and guidelines should be strictly implemented.”