178 Navi Mumbai police personnel test positive for Covid, all barring 3 home quarantined

In the Navi Mumbai police commissionerate, 178 police personnel have been affected by Covid during the third wave; of these, 36 are officers and 142 are employees; all the 36 officers are fully vaccinated, hence suffering from mild symptoms and home quarantined while three of the 142 employees are hospitalised and the rest are home quarantined

In the Navi Mumbai police commissionerate, 178 police personnel have been affected by Covid during the third wave. Of these, 36 are officers and 142 are employees.

A police officer in Navi Mumbai gets his booster vaccine. As many as 178 police personnel have been affected by Covid in Navi Mumbai. (BACHCHAN KUMAR/HT PHOTO)

All the 36 officers are fully vaccinated and hence suffering from mild symptoms and are home quarantined. Of the 142 employees, three are hospitalised while the remaining 139 are home quarantined. Among the 142, 139 have taken both the vaccination doses while three others have taken only one dose.

The institutional quarantine centres, Savali in Nerul and Nivara in Kalamboli, are empty as the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Headquarters), Abhijeet Shivthare, informed that all the infected are in good health and none are facing any severe infections.

During the first wave, 824 police personnel were infected, of which 11 died. In the second wave, 181 were found positive of which one died.

“About 98% of the police personnel in Navi Mumbai Police have been fully vaccinated and preparations have begun to give booster doses to the police personnel who have taken both the doses and completed 39 weeks. So far, 477 have received booster dose. We have also started providing masks and sanitisers to the police on duty as per the instructions given by the State Government to prevent them from getting infected with Covid,” Shivthare said.

When found positive, the wellness team looks into the admission and record keeping of the patients. “During the second wave, the challenge was in getting admission in hospitals. Navi Mumbai police have a tie up with 16 hospitals in Navi Mumbai, so we used to help the patients and their families in getting admission in one of those hospitals. The biggest worry then was lack of oxygen. Fortunately, this time, there is no requirement for admission,” police inspector Jagdish Kulkarni, one of the members of the wellness team, said.

The police have also started sanitising all the police stations and police headquarters within the limits of the Navi Mumbai police commissionerate.

“We are making sure that 55 years and above staff are given office duty and all the staff work in rotation in shifts,” Deputy Commissioner Of Police (Special Branch), Rupali Ambure, said.