E-Paper
3 cops die of Covid-19 in Maharashtra in 24 hours; state police death toll touches 93
Three police personnel have died of Covid-19 in the past 24-hours in the state, taking the death toll of Maharashtra Police to 93. One of the three personnel who
Three police personnel have died of Covid-19 in the past 24-hours in the state, taking the death toll of Maharashtra Police to 93. One of the three personnel who died was attached to Mumbai Police, which has now lost 53 of its personnel to Covid-19.
Assistant inspector general of police (law and order) Vinayak Deshmukh on Saturday said that the other two personnel who died in the past 24 hours were from the constabulary in Thane and Satara police commissionerates. The three personnel were above 50 years of age.
A total of 8,232 police personnel (7,371 constables and 861 officers) from across the state have contracted the virus until Saturday, of whom 6,314 have recovered, with many of them even reporting back to duty. Active cases in the state’s force stand at 1,825.
Mumbai Police has the maximum cases (3,600) of Covid-19 in the state, followed by Thane Police which has 896 cases.
The police said the department has taken multiple steps to prevent the spread of the virus in the force and has also allowed personnel aged above 55 years to stay at home to curtail the fatality rate.
The police also recently decided to send all personnel deployed at containment zones for testing.
Naval Bajaj, joint commissioner of police (administration), who is the designated nodal officer for Covid-19 management in Mumbai Police, said that personnel in the 45-55 age group will undergo rapid antigen testing. After their testing procedure is completed, personnel from the age groups below this will also undergo testing.
A senior IPS officer had recently admitted that though the police department is taking all the possible measures to protect the lives of its personnel, it was helpless in cases of infected policemen aged above 55 years or those with comorbidities.
An internal assessment report prepared by the Mumbai Police to understand the spread of Covid-19 among its personnel till July 1 has found that the fatality rate in the city police is 1.34%.
The fatality rate was the highest at 82% among those personnel aged above 50.
The report found that police personnel between 31 and 40 years of age were affected the most. High blood pressure and diabetes were the most common ailments among comorbid personnel.
