ITBP ex-officer suspected to be Covid-19 carrier after 45 men test positive

The Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) suspects that a former officer who died of Covid-19 on Sunday infected many other men as the number of infections rose to 45 on Tuesday and forced it to seal the Tigri camp and put around 1000 personnel under observation, an official said.

The decision to seal the Tigri camp came after 23 more men tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday.

“ITBP is trying to identify the source of infection in the force but preliminary assessment is that a retired ITBP officer, who was staying at Tigri camp and who died due to Covid-19 on Sunday could be the carrier. Subsequently, personnel may have contracted the infection during law and order duties in different parts of Delhi along with the Delhi Police,” said an official who did not want to be named.

Out of these, 43 personnel were those deployed for internal security duties in the national capital while two were deployed for law and order duty with the Delhi Police, the ITBP said in a statement.

The ITBP reported its first Covid-19 case April 28. On Monday, the number reached 21 before it more than doubled to 45 on Tuesday.

“ITBP has started treating the Corona positive personnel at 200 bedded CAPF Referral Hospital based in Greater Noida. This Hospital is now dedicated to corona patients only. Personnel from all Central Armed Police Forces have also been admitted in this Hospital. Currently, 52 have been admitted from the ITBP and BSF (44 from ITBP and 8 from BSF) at the Referral Hospital,” the statement said.

The ITBP has also quarantined the remaining 91 personnel of the company at its Chhawla Facility. Sampling has been done and reports of these 91 personnel are awaited.

The spike in Covid-19 cases in ITBP comes on the heels of similar development in two other central armed police forces in the country – the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the Border Security Force (BSF).

By Monday night, the BSF had reported 67 positive cases of Covid-19, most of them in Delhi and Tripura while the CRPF reported 135 cases from a single battalion in Delhi.