Amid a surge in coronavirus infections in the national capital, nearly 1,000 Delhi Police personnel, including the Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch), have tested positive for COVID-19, officials said on Monday. According to Additional PRO/Consultant Anil Mittal (Delhi Police), “Nearly a thousand police personnel have been infected with COVID-19 as of now. All of them are under quarantine and will join duty after they fully recover.” The overall strength of the Delhi Police is over 80,000.
Recently, Delhi Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana had issued a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for preventing the spread of the coronavirus among police personnel. Since police personnel are frontline workers performing their duties amidst the public, it is imperative they take adequate precautions to protect themselves from exposure to Covid, it said.
According to the SOP, all police personnel should wear face-masks, maintain social distancing and practise proper hand hygiene while performing their duties. All police personnel and eligible family members who have not been vaccinated may be motivated to complete the vaccination process. “Those who have not been vaccinated due to medical reasons may be encouraged to seek medical opinion again for vaccination,” it said.
46 inmates, 43 staffers test positive
Forty-six inmates and 43 staffers of three jails in Delhi have tested positive for COVID-19, officials said on Monday. “All the infected inmates as well as staffers have been under isolation and are recovering,” said a senior jail official.
According to data shared by the jail authorities, 46 inmates tested positive till Sunday — 29 inmates in Tihar and the remaining 17 in Mandoli jail. Among the 43 infected staffers, 25 are from Tihar, 12 from Rohini jail and six from Mandoli jail.
As part of the steps taken to contain the spread of the viral disease in Tihar, Mandoli and Rohini jail complexes, prison dispensaries have been turned into Covid care centres. An oxygen plant in Tihar will be functional soon, officials said. Many medical isolation cells have been set up for inmates showing slight symptoms of COVID-19, they said.
Those who test positive but are asymptomatic will be kept in separate isolation cells within the same jail. The 120-bed hospital in Tihar and the 48-bed facility in Mandoli have been converted into Covid Health Centres.
The jail administration said they have formed four committees to look after the infected inmates and staffers. Social distancing among staff members and inmates is followed to the extent possible. Inmates are mostly restricted to their wards and awareness programmes about following Covid norms are carried out regularly, officials said.
The total number of prisoners in all the three jails of Delhi Prisons as of January 7 was 18,528. Tihar has a maximum of 12,669 inmates, Mandoli 4,018 and Rohini 1,841.
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