Five more police officers from the Banjara Hills police station in Hyderabad have tested positive for coronavirus, taking the police station’s tally to 15. The five new cases were reported on Friday after a sub-inspector and nine constables tested positive on Thursday.
Telangana DGP M Mahendar Reddy on Friday issued a circular granting leave for staff who are unwell. The circular read: "All unit officers are requested to ensure official permission is given to staff to take rest without insisting for sanction of leave if they are not feeling well and also advise them to isolate or quarantine themselves to check the spread of the virus."
All the officers who tested positive have been admitted to state-run Gandhi Hospital, where a special ward has been set up for police personnel.
This is the first incident of such a large number of policemen testing positive from a single police station. The police station, located in the posh Banjara Hills neighbourhood, has 150 personnel. At least 50 of them have so far undergone the test. The inspector of the Banjara Hills police station tested negative.
Aside from Banjara Hills, five officers have tested positive at various police stations across the city. The number of policemen infected by the virus has crossed 100 in Hyderabad. A 37-year-old constable from Kulsumpura police station had succumbed to COVID-19 in May.
The policemen were reportedly infected while performing their duties in containment zones.
The DGP had said that some police personnel were likely to get infected by COVID-19 while implementing lockdown at various places in the state. "On such exposure, personnel may require rest, quarantine, consultation and treatment," he said.
The DGP instructed the district Superintendents of Police and Commissioners of Police to ensure that official permission was given to all staff and officers to take rest without insisting sanction of any leave when they are not feeling well.
The staff or officers, who are sick, can take rest by being under quarantine either at home or in a government hospital to prevent further spread of COVID-19 to other police personnel, the police chief said.
With IANS inputs