By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Oct. 5: Coronavirus infection in security personnel of the three separate bodies has crossed 8,000.
Personnel deployed as frontline security officials for the security of public, VIPs and important places of the country have been found infected with the coronavirus.
According to security officials of Nepal Police, Nepali Army and the Armed Police Force, Nepal (APF), the total infected security personnel, deployed in various tasks including the coronavirus control and treatment sectors as frontline forces has reached 8,260 as of Sunday morning.
"More than 8,000 security personnel working in Nepali Army, Nepal Police and the Armed Police Force, Nepal have contracted coronavirus as of Sunday morning," security officials said.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Kuber Kadayat at the Police Headquarters said that Nepal Police had the highest number of infected people at 4,423. Of them, 1,726 are actively infected personnel while 2,697 are discharged after recovery.
Among the active infected cases, 301 are the personnel from the Police Headquarters, 597 from Metropolitan Police Offices, 143 from State 1, 134 each from Bagmati and Gandaki, 84 from State 2, 176 from State 5, 41 from Karnali and 95 from Sudurpaschim State.
Similarly, 2,590 personnel of the Nepali Army were found infected with the virus so far. Of them, 808 were discharged and 1,880 are active cases. Two army personnel died due to the infection within these days, according to Shantosh Ballave Poudel, Brigadier General and spokesperson of Nepali Army Headquarters.
In the APF, the recovery rate has gone up tremendously. While a total of 1,247 personnel were infected in the force, 999 of them have recovered. Now, only 248 are active cases.
The number of security personnel infected with coronavirus has been increasing across the country in the recent days.
On Saturday alone, 67 security personnel deployed in Baluwatar, the official residence of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, tested positive for the coronavirus.
Meanwhile, over 700 inmates across the country were found infected with the coronavirus while eight died of the infection.
Debarshi Sapkota, director and spokesperson at the Department of Prison Management, said that 716 jailbirds were found infected with the virus as of Sunday morning.
Of the eight deceased, six were from the Central Jail in Jagannath Dewal, Sundhara, according to Sapkota. As of Sunday, the prison management had already conducted the PCR test of 1,900 jailbirds. Of them, over 700 tested positive for the virus and nearly 200 others overcame the virus.
“We have even been prohibiting foods brought by their relatives to control possible infection inside the jail,” he said. The department has instructed to provide treatment to all those suspected jailbirds by keeping them in quarantines arranged in all jails of the country, he added.
According to the department, the highest number of coronavirus infection rate among the inmates were found in the prisons of Parsa, Banke, Syangja, Lalitpur, Sindhupalchowk, Kathmandu, Panchthar, Jumla, Saptari, Siraha, Sunsari, and Morang districts.