Six cops in Jahangirpuri test positive after duty in red zone

All the six police personnel were asymptomatic, and have been moved to isolation units, where they are being monitored and treated, the police said.

New Delhi: A day after four constables in central Delhi’s Nabi Karim containment zone tested positive for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), six more Delhi Police policemen from north-west Delhi’s Jahangirpuri were found positive on Tuesday evening, highlighting how front-line workers are vulnerable to the pathogen.

Delhi Police personnel do the rounds in a containment area of Jahangirpuri. (Sanchit Khanna/HT photo)

All the six police personnel were asymptomatic, and have been moved to isolation units, where they are being monitored and treated, the police said.

The total number of infected Delhi Police personnel in the city is now 26.

Deputy commissioner of police (north-west) Vijayanta Arya said the six policemen — two assistant sub-inspectors (ASI) and four constables —were on duty in and around the Jahangirpuri containment zone. He added that the wife of one of the infected police personnel also tested positive for Covid-19. She displayed symptoms, and is also in isolation.

“The wife of one of the ASIs has also been tested positive. They have all have been moved to isolation and are under treatment. We are tracing all those who may have been in contact with these people. We have disinfected and sanitised the police station, as four of the constables used to live in the barracks,” Arya said.

The Delhi government has imposed a hard lockdown in 89 containment zones, or “red” zones, where people are not allowed to step out of their homes and authorities are home-delivering essentials. These zones are guarded by policemen who control the pickets at all entry and exit pickets.

Eight police personnel from Chandni Mahal police station in central Delhi had tested positive for the virus over the past week. Two of them tested positive on April 14, one on April 15, and the rest on April 18. The police station, which falls in a containment zone, was sealed.

A second senior officer said that the Jahangirpuri police station did not need to be sealed because no one other than the six who tested positive on Tuesday were suffering from the disease. “Everyone is being examined. Even the six policemen who tested positive were asymptomatic, but all necessary precautions are being taken. They were on duty near Jahangirpuri’s B and C blocks, which fall under the containment zones. The source of infection to these policemen is yet to be identified. We are in the process of tracing their contacts, and every person who was in touch with the six is being monitored regularly by dedicated medical staff,” said the second officer cited above who asked not to be named.

Of the 80 police personnel from the Nabi Karim police station in central Delhi screened, four tested Covid-19 positive on Monday. They four were also asymptomatic.

Deputy commissioner of police (central) Sanjay Bhatia said that, as of Wednesday, over 200 police personnel from Nabi Karim and Chandni Mahal police stations have been tested; 12 were positive, 140 negative, and the reports of the remaining 48 were pending.

“Some of these policemen who had dealt with people who had gone to the Markaz,” Bhatia said, referring to the gatherings in March at the Tablighi Jamaat headquarters in the Nizamuddin Basti, which has emerged as India’s biggest Covid-19 cluster.

Of the 26 Delhi Police personnel found positive so far in the city, an assistant sub-inspector in the traffic police, who was the first to be diagnosed on date, was discharged from hospital last Friday. Two deputy commissioners of police (DCPs) in the south-west district, and 300 personnel of other ranks who had come in contact with the infected people, are currently in home quarantine.

Additionally, 72 personnel of the Delhi Police’s anti-terror wing, the special cell, isolated themselves on Tuesday after a head constable posted with the unit was tested positive for the disease on Sunday. He was admitted to Deen Dayal Upadhyay hospital on April 11, after being found symptomatic. “Following the standard protocol, 72 police personnel who had come in contact with him were asked to go into self-quarantine. They will also be tested,” said an officer from the special cell.