Covid-19: 31 CRPF jawans from battalion engaged in anti-Red ops infected

RANCHI: Twenty-five jawans of a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) battalion engaged in anti-Maoist operations in Seraikela-Kharsawan district have been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus recently. CRPF inspector general Raj Kumar on Thursday said, “The jawans had returned from leave and were under quarantine when they tested positive for Covid-19. They are undergoing treatment at Tata Main Hospital in Jamshedpur.”
Notably, CRPF had put a batch of 34 jawans of 196th battalion under quarantine after their return to different companies.About 10 days later, nine members of the group started developing Covid symptoms and were found infected in tests conducted at TMH. The samples of the remaining personnel were examined and more turned out to be positive.
CRPF has started Covid tests for all its personnel returning after leave, particularly from the red zones. There are 22 CRPF batallions in the state. The 196th battalion is operating in areas that witnessed increased extremist activities in the recent past.
A CRPF official said, “Immediate preventive measures helped us stop the spread of the disease among other jawans. Those who tested positive in the second round were asymptomatic and would have spread the disease in the battalion after the quarantine period. All the jawans had returned from different states including Bihar and West Bengal.”
He added that the quarantine centre was located in a remote corner of the battalion headquarters and was equipped with a separate kitchen and bathroom. No one was allowed to move out of the centre during quarantine.
Sources said 31 jawans of different CRPF companies in Jharkhand have been afflicted by Covid. All of them had returned from leave from various parts of country, with some coming from the red zones like Delhi. So far, four jawans have recovered.