A 59-year-old assistant sub-inspector attached to Wilson Garden Traffic police station passed away due to COVID-19 on Sunday morning. He tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 on June 18 and was undergoing treatment at Sparsh Hospital after complaints of high fever. This is the third death of a ‘Corona Warrior’ reported this week.
The policeman who died had contacts with five other police staff, as well as 20 primary contacts, according to a statement from the Bengaluru East Deputy Commission of Police (Traffic). The contacts have been tested as of Saturday and the results are awaited. They have all been admitted in a city hospital.
Traffic police Hiremath (59) who succumbed to coronavirus.
On Saturday, a 56-year-old police constable attached to the Kalasipalyam police station succumbed to the disease at Victoria Hospital. He was admitted in the hospital on June 18, the same day he tested positive for the novel coronavirus, reported The Hindu.
The two deaths come days after a traffic assistant sub-inspector, who was attached to the VV Puram Traffic police, tested positive following his death on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, in another cause for concern among the state police, 13 Karnataka State Reserve Police (KSRP) personnel, who reached Mysuru from Bengaluru, tested positive for the virus. All the 13 persons have been sent to a COVID-19 designated hospital.
All of them were posted for duty at the Padarayanapura ward in Bengaluru, which was initially entirely sealed as a containment zone to contain the spread of the disease.
The Times of India reported that a 25-member team of the fifth battalion of the KSRP had returned to Mysuru from Bengaluru on June 17 and were put in institutional quarantine. Another 12 persons will continue to be in quarantine for another seven days and will undergo another round of testing.
Mysuru Police Commissioner Chandragupta told TOI that all these police personnel did not meet anybody, including their family members, and that the police department has communicated with them and given them confidence.
Following this, all police teams returning from Bengaluru and reporting back to Mysuru district will be tested.
On Saturday, Bhaskar Rao, Bengaluru City Police Commissioner, issued a directive to the police force to subject every arrested or detained persons to COVID-19 tests and keep them at a distance till the results come back.
TOI also reported that at present, 39 Bengaluru police staff been diagnosed with COVID-19, including the three deceased.