17 cops found positive in random sampling

CHANDIGARH: Seventeen Punjab Police personnel had tested positive for coronavirus in a random sampling of 7,165 cops doing frontline jobs as part of a special coronavirus testing drive, director general of police (DGP) Dinkar Gupta said on Saturday.

This translates into around 0.9% positive cases of the total samples for the police force, as compared with the average of 2% positive cases for the entire state, the DGP said.

The special RT-PCR Covid testing drive started on June 1 amid apprehensions of a spike in cases in the wake of relaxation of the curfew in the state, and almost three months of multifarious frontline duties by around 48,000 cops working day and night during the state-wide curfew/lockdown.

The DGP disclosed that of the 17 positive cases, 14 belonged to district police, two (including a cook) were from State Armed Police/Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB) and one from Punjab Home Guards (PHG). Sangrur has reported the maximum number of positive cases, said the DGP.

While 1,868 of the 7,165 samples collected till June 12 had tested negative, results for 5,280 were pending, said Gupta, adding the sampling process started on June 1, and efforts were being made to test a maximum number of police personnel posted in police stations and other high risk areas on a daily basis depending upon the spare sampling and the testing capacity available with the Health department.