Over 50 troops quarantined as BSF jawan contracts COVID-19

A BSF jawan deployed in the entourage of the Centre’s inter-ministerial central team (IMCT) to West Bengal has tested positive for COVID-19, following which over 50 personnel of the force were quarantined, officials said on Monday.

They said the infected personnel is working as a driver (constable rank) and was attached with the IMCT that was touring Kolkata and other places to review and suggest measures to the state government for containment of coronavirus.

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The jawan was tested positive on Sunday. He has now been admitted to an isolation facility of the state government, the officials said. The IMCT was staying at the Border Security Force (BSF) guest house in Kolkata and all its logistics like vehicles, security personnel and food were being provided by the paramilitary.

Kolkata is the headquarters for the south Bengal frontier of the BSF that guards over 930 km of the India-Bangladesh border. Over 50 personnel who were in touch with the infected BSF jawan have been quarantined and about 20 have been tested till now and their reports are awaited, they said. The IMCT is headed by an additional secretary-rank officer of the government (IAS officer Apurva Chandra) with healthcare and disaster management experts in it. The team has wrapped up its West Bengal visit.