Azam, son, among 15 test Covid +ve in Sitapur jail
LUCKNOW: Fifteen prisoners including former Uttar Pradesh (UP) minister Azam Khan and his son Abdullah Azam have tested positive for Covid-19 infection at Sitapur district jail, senior UP jail officials confirmed on Saturday.
The officials said there were 1722 active Covid cases in UP jails including 353 cases in 71 permanent jails and 1230 cases in 45 temporary jails setup for keeping new prisoners in isolation before shifting them to the permanent jails.
UP prisons headquarters spokesman Santosh Kumar said Azam Khan and his son Abdullah, kept in the same barrack, tested positive during routine testing drive of prisoners conducted on Friday.
He said the former minister and his son had fever initially but now had no symptoms and were being given medical treatment.
Kumar said total 2032 prisoners were lodged at Sitapur district jail at present.
Since April 2020, 14882 positive prisoners have been treated and recovery rate among prisoners is 99.95 percent, Kumar said.
So far seven people including two prisoners each of permanent and temporary jails and three jail personnel including two jail warders have succumbed to Covid-19 infection, the prison headquarters spokesman said.
He said 11882 prisoners are lodged in UP jails which included 108892 prisoners in 71 permanent jails and 2990 in 45 temporary jails. There were currently 353 active cases in permanent jails and 1230 active cases in temporary jails.
“Temporary jails are meant so that new prisoners could be lodged there for mandatory 14 days isolation before shifting to permanent jails. Moreover, those who test positive are also treated there,” Kumar said.
Kumar said as many as 16611 positive cases were reported from the state prisoners since the outbreak of pandemic since April 2020 and of them 14882 had recovered. He said 514499 prisoners have been tested since April 2020.
Earlier on April 25, the gangster-turnedpolitician Mukhtar Ansari tested COVID-19 positive in Banda jail. Ansari, who is the sitting Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA from Mau Vidhan Sabha seat of UP, was shifted to Banda prison from Punjab jail on April 7 on Supreme Court’s directive. He has been kept in isolation and his health is being monitored continuously.