BHUBANESWAR: Twenty-nine more BSF jawans have tested positive for COVID-19 in Odisha's Maoist-hit Malkangiri district, a senior official said on Tuesday.
Earlier, nine BS jawans were diagnosed with the disease in Nabrangpur district.
The 29 who tested positive for the virus in Malkangiri had returned from Bihar, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, Malkangiri District Collector Manish Agarwal said.
"Of the 36 more positive cases detected in Malkangiri district, 29 are from the BSF, accommodated in the Malybanta Boys Hostel, Jr, Science College & Girls Hostel," he tweeted.
Four of the 36 patients in Malkangiri were under quarantine at a temporary medical centre in the district following their return from other states.
Three others were undergoing home-isolation, the district collector said.
Altogether 38 BSF jawans have tested positive for COVID-19 in Odisha, while as many as 293 disaster response personnel were found to have contracted the disease after their return from West Bengal, where they had been deployed for restoration work post cyclone Amphan.
Malkangiri has reported 96 cases so far, of which 52 have recovered.