State police reports first infection
Bhubaneswar: A constable of commissionerate police in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday tested positive for the novel coronavirus, making him the first such case in the state police.
Officials said the 36-year-old man, who belongs to the reserve police line here, might have contracted the virus from a migrant labourer of another state, whom he had met while he was on leave.
“One of our police personnel was subjected to Covid-19 test after he returned from leave. His swab samples report has come out positive. He is asymptomatic and has been moved to a Covid care facility. It is learnt that he had come in contact with a labourer of another state,” commissionerate police has tweeted.
“Doctors across our four police hospitals in the twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack are closely monitoring the health condition of all police personnel following the established protocol. Let us work together to defeat the virus,” the tweet further said.
As the first case in Odisha Police has set alarm bells ringing for the men in uniform, government sources said it has begun tracing close contacts of the patient. The sources added that the constable stayed in the barracks after returning from leave on Sunday. “We will quarantine some personnel of the reserve police line after we trace his direct and indirect contacts. The place will be sanitized,” a police officer said.
At least 6,000 police personnel have been deployed on Covid duty in the twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. The commissionerate police has recently sent out a proposal to the state government for setting up a Covid hospital specifically for the treatment of police personnel.
In an attempt to keep the virus at bay, commissionerate police has taken a slew of precautions, including segregation of personnel with co-morbidities (who will not be put on Covid duty), decongestion of barracks, operation of fever clinics with infrared thermometers and deployment of medical officers to monitor the health condition of the personnel.
On Monday, swab samples of a few personnel of the Kumbharapada police station in Puri were collected for test as they were found to be ‘contacts’ of an inmate of Puri jail who had tested positive on Sunday. The results are awaited.