CRPF DG and 20 senior officers placed under home quarantine

NEW DELHI: Indian force, the first line of defence during any crisis is bearing the brunt as personnel from the forces started testing positive for COVID-19 in the last one week. According to forces, they have taken proper precautions to ensure the safety of their men as they deal with the COVID-19 situation.

Starting with the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), soon after a Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of CRPF was found COVID-19 positive, DG CRPF AP Maheshwari, who came into indirect contact with him through an official, has given his sample for COVID-19 testing. While 20 senior officers of the security forces have been placed under home quarantine, apart from the DG, several senior CRPF officials have also submitted their samples for testing.

"Except for the CMO of CRPF who tested positive and is undergoing treatment, none in the chain ahead have shown any positive signs. However, DG, as a precautionary measure has advised all concerned to restrict their movements and strictly work from home to break the chain if any. The DG has also set an example by following the same protocol," a senior official said.

He further said that more focus was given on personnel who are on field duty. "We are distributing food regularly to poor people and we are also deployed for maintaining law and order situation. Personnel were asked to ensure proper safety and precautions," he said, adding that personnel who were on leave before the lockdown were told to stay wherever there were residing.

Meanwhile, 11 CISF personnel in Mumbai tested positive. It is suspected that they caught the infection while on duty at the Mumbai International Airport. Government officials had earlier said that between the start of the screening process on January 18 and the order to suspend all flights on March 23, over 15 lakh passengers had arrived in India.

Over 30,000 CISF officers and personnel were deployed in more than 60 airports as COVID-19 broke out in India. "Five of the CISF personnel had tested positive earlier. Then blood test was done of over 100 CISF personnel of which six more tested positive on Friday," an official said, adding that personnel who tested positive earlier showed no symptoms. The camp from where the cases were reported was duly sanitised.

Hemendra Singh, CISF PRO, said apart from Mumbai, there were no positive cases of CISF officials reported. "If any personnel had symptoms related to COVID-19, immediately his blood test was done," he said.

According to the CISF, few days before the lockdown, the CISF personnel who were on leave or travelling due to official work and later joined duty were sent to quarantine. The CISF is now working on providing strong COVID-19 protective gear to its personnel once airports and the Delhi Metro restart operations.

Meanwhile, Indo-tibetan Border Police (ITBP) claimed that none of their personnel tested positive." In January, we developed the first quarantine centre in the country and precautions against COVID-19 were taken from February itself. Around 100 of our personnel are deployed at the ITBP quarantine camp in Chhawla. They are restricted to the quarantine camp," an official said.

In Railway Protection Force (RPF) also no such case has been reported so far. "We have also caught some COVID-19 suspects travelling in trains. Our staff who caught them were sent for medical checkup and then quarantine," said AN Jha, senior DSC (RPF).