Hiding virus symptoms will invite action, Army warns all its personnel

IN AN ADVISORY, the Army said that it is obligatory on all the ranks to disclose during roll call or while screening by the medical authorities symptoms like cough, throat pain, fever and breathing difficulty. They will have to disclose contact with any C

To prevent spread of coronavirus among its ranks, the Indian Army has warned its personnel that hiding symptoms of the Covid-19 will invite action under Army Act.

In an advisory, the Army said that it is obligatory on all the ranks to disclose during roll call or while screening by the medical authorities symptoms like cough, throat pain, fever and breathing difficulty. They will have to disclose contact with any Covid-19 patient, relative or friend while on leave. Also, they will also have to disclose about any travel to Covid19 areas identified by the government.

“Non-disclosure of info …. is likely to put other troops in harm and thus the act of not disclosing info will be treated as willful concealment and will be dealt with as a breach of discipline under the AA,” said the advisory.

It said that the Covid-19 has spread to all parts of the country and troops and their families are at risk of getting infected.

Till now, there has been only three Covid-19 positive cases detected in the Indian Army. The Army has taken a series of steps to prevent it spread within its ranks and has restricted non-essential movements in cantonments and military stations. The Army has also issued instructions to its field commanders to identify additional infrastructure for setting up of quarantine centers in each station for its own personnel. Also, the Army has instituted mechanism to trace contact history where each individual has been asked to maintain daily contact log. All conferences and seminars have been postponed till April 15, 2020. Service personnel attending courses which end before April 15 2020 will be retained at respective training institution. Temporary duty of all ranks is being rescheduled or cancelled till 15 April 2020.