Corona sneaks into Byculla women's jail

A 54-year-old inmate of the Byculla women's jail tested positive for novel coronavirus, two days after a doctor attached to the jail had tested positive, said an official. The inmate was first referred to JJ Hospital after her oxygen saturation level fell below 90 per cent. After her second test for Covid-19 also came back positive, she was transferred to St George's Hospital on Saturday.

According to officials, the woman is the first prisoner from the Byculla jail to test positive. After being admitted to JJ Hospital, she was tested but initially, her reports were negative. However, a second test on May 8 was positive. She was then transferred to the St George hospital for further treatment.

An official said, a doctor attached to Byculla jail had earlier tested positive and had missed work for 20 days. Byculla women’s jail, the only prison for women inmates in Mumbai, has lodged high-profile inmates, including the Sheena Bora murder accused Indrani Mukerjea and activists Sudha Bharadwaj and Shoma Sen — arrested by Pune

Police in 2018 for their alleged connection to the Elgar Parishad case. The Supreme Court had, in March, directed states, to take steps towards decongesting jails, to ensure social distancing could be maintained. While undertrials facing less than seven years in jail are being released on bail, a notification to release convicts on emergency parole was only issued on Friday.