From the 80,000 police personnel in the state of Karnataka, nearly 11% have been tested positive for Covid-19 infection. Currently, updating the records till November 2, there have been 9,348 Coronavirus positive cases. From the total count, 8,052 of the police personnel have recovered from the deadly virus, however, 87 police personnel inclusive of two women, lost their lives to the viral infection.
Considering the records of the capital city, Bengaluru, 2,094 police personnel were found to be Covid-19 positive, from which 2,432 have been discharged from the hospital and 31 of the personnel have succumbed to the virus. In an interview with The New Indian Express, Director General & Inspector General of Police, Praveen Sood said, “One family member of all our deceased frontline police personnel will be offered a government job.” Sood mentioned that majority of the police personnel ho died were above the age of 50 years. “But we have also lost some young policemen aged between 30 and 40 years,” Sood said
The police chief addressed the decline in the total number of cases among frontline police personnel over a few weeks. He further added, “The number has come down from 100 cases per day in July/August to 20 to 30 cases every day now. There are days when new cases are in single digits. This is a healthy development, but we cannot let our guard down. Covid-19 protocols are being strictly adhered to by the police.”
Earlier, on April 30, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa had declared ex-gratia worth Rs. 30 lakh for anganwadi workers, helpers, pourakarmikas and police personnel, who die contracting the Covid-19 infection.
