Kolkata: Over 1,500 personnel of Kolkata Police have tested positive for Covid-19, and eight have died due to the infection so far, according to the department.
While there are no official statement on the numbers, a senior police officer told ThePrint that 1,561 personnel of the force have tested positive till now. While 349 personnel of them are in hospital, 1,204 have recovered.
The city police has over 40,000 personnel working in its nine divisions.
In West Bengal, Kolkata is the largest Covid hotspot with 28,474 cases and 962 deaths as of Monday.
The police force — which has been at the forefront of the Covid fight in the city with law enforcement, blood donations and delivery of groceries, among others — is bearing the brunt of the outbreak.
Looking to contain the spread of the virus in the force, the Kolkata Police has started a centralised Covid care centre at its headquarters at Lalbazar in central Kolkata. It had requisitioned Eden Gardens as a dedicated quarantine facility for the force last month.
As the infections rise in the force, the authorities have started counselling programmes to raise awareness among the personnel and convince them not to hide the symptoms.
“All measures have been taken to contain the spread of infection. We have developed a standard operating procedure to check the infection,” Kolkata Police Commissioner Anuj Sharma told ThePrint.
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Infections in police commissionerates
The rate of infection in city commissionerates also appears to be high in the state.
Apart from the Kolkata Police, two other adjacent commissionerates — Barrackpore and Bidhannagar (Salt Lake) — in the North 24 Parganas district have also reported infections.
According to a senior Barrackpore commissionerate officer, 142 police personnel have tested positive for Covid so far, though no death has been recorded.
The Bidhannagar police has recorded 141 positive cases, said an officer in the commissionerate.
The urban areas of North 24 Parganas are the worst affected in the state. The district recorded 21,047 cases and 490 deaths as of Monday.
Steps to arrest infection
With this spike in Covid cases in the force, the Kolkata Police has set up its own Covid welfare centre and a centralised mechanism for its personnel.
“Policemen cannot stay at home though we keep asking other people to stay safe and stay at home. We have to be on duty and in the field. For the last five months, we have been going inside the hotspots, identifying and barricading containment zones, assisting people in distress, supplying food and other essentials to households during lockdown and also maintaining law and order situation in the city,” said a top Kolkata Police officer, who didn’t wish to be named.
“In this situation, it is normal that some of our colleagues will have infections. But we are dealing with it,” said the official.
Significantly, many of the discharged personnel have become plasma donors. The force has also organised blood donation camps as the city hospitals were facing an acute blood crisis during the lockdown period.
“Masks, sanitisers, HCQ tablets are routinely being distributed among all. Moreover, the Covid care centre monitors the health condition of our people who work in the field. We keep track of them,” said the official.
“If anybody feels sick, we immediately isolate them and test. Most of our affected personnel have recovered. That is the best thing,” he added.
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