Bengaluru City Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao on Friday announced that he is going into home quarantine after his driver tested positive for the novel coronavirus. He said he will also get tested for the virus on Monday, for the fifth time in recent months.
“My driver is tested Corona positive, I have home quarantined myself for 4 days and will get myself tested again on Monday for the (5) fifth time since 3 months. I had to be in numerous inadvertent interactions with positive cases. Seek your good wishes, am not yet positive,” he tweeted.
My driver is tested Corona positive, I have home quarantined myself for 4 days and will get myself tested again on Monday for the (5) fifth time since 3 months. I had to be in numerous inadvertent interactions with positive cases. Seek your good wishes, am not yet positive !!
— Bhaskar Rao IPS (@deepolice12) July 17, 2020
The news comes as many personnel in the city police are being affected by the spread of the virus. In an interview with TNM, Bhaskar Rao said that around 700 police staff had already contracted the infection and eight police officials in the city had lost their lives to COVID-19. Another 800 persons are home quarantined due to contact with infected persons.
As a precautionary measure, he ordered all police department staff in the city who are above the age of 50 to work from home.
Police have called for volunteers among the general public to help enforce lockdown procedures.
More than 13,470 people have registered as civil police wardens with the Bengaluru Police to assist in regulation. The volunteers registered from the eight divisions of the city.
"Outstanding work being done by the overwhelming number of Bengaluru civil police volunteers, they are unsparing. Policemen have become law abiding citizens," Rao said.
The volunteers will accompany the policemen on night patrols, man check-posts, answer questions of the public and assist station house officers. They are also required to assist in documentation and computer work at the police station level, enforce social distancing and face masks among the public.
(IANS inputs)