COVID-19: First Coronavirus cases reported in paramilitary force

Tinsukia: A 57-year-old officer of the Border Security Force (BSF) posted at Madhya Pradesh and a head constable of CISF posted at Mumbai International airport have tested positive for COVID-19 (novel coronavirus), the first two cases of the deadly virus to be reported from the paramilitary forces.

The development comes as the number of positive case in the country is inching towards the 1000 mark, at 979 now..

According to sources, the BSF officer was posted as a supervisor at its quarantine centre at Tekanpur area of Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh. “He is suspected to have been infected from his wife who returned from UK 15 days ago”, sources said.

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According to sources, the officer had attended four meetings from March 15 to March 19 and is said to have met other additional director general and inspector general rank officers. The officer has been admitted to a local hospital. All officials who came in contact with him and his wife have been sent to quarantine.

A CISF jawan at the Mumbai international airport has also tested positive. He might have got exposed to the virus during duty at one of India’s busiest airports. “He has also been sent to quarantine”, sources said.

Contact tracing in both cases has started which will be a very difficult task, sources added.

India has a strength of around 10 lakh paramilitary personnel deployed on various fronts.

The BSF, ITBP and army along with other agencies has established large quarantine facilities for COVID-19.