17 Border Security Force Personnel Test COVID-19 +ve In Delhi, Tripura

Two BSF personnel have contracted the disease in Tripura (File)

Seventeen Border Security Force (BSF) personnel have tested positive for the coronavirus in Delhi and Tripura. They are part of the 126th and 178th battalion, sources said.

Seven of these personnel were deployed along with the police in Delhi's Chandani Mahal, one of the coronavirus epicentres in the national capital. They were admitted to a hospital in neighbouring Noida.

Five BSF personnel have reportedly contracted the virus from a BSF hospital in Delhi's RK Puram. A kidney ailment patient at the hospital had tested coronavirus positive last month.

Two other BSF personnel, who had visited a cancer hospital in the national capital, also tested positive. They were admitted to Jai Prakash Narayan Trauma Centre in Delhi.

Two personnel have contracted the disease in Tripura.

The BSF is primarily tasked with guarding Indian borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh apart from rendering a variety of duties in the internal security domain of the country.

The information comes on a day when it was revealed that 122 CRPF personnel have tested coronavirus positive in the last two weeks. The results of 100 others are awaited, officials said. The home ministry has asked the CRPF chief to explain the circumstances for the spread in the force.

The CRPF personnel are from the 31st battalion based in east Delhi's Mayur Vihar Phase-3. The premises have been sealed by the local authorities.

On April 24, nine CRPF personnel from the battalion tested positive.

India recorded the biggest single-day jump of 2,411 coronavirus cases on Saturday, taking the total to 37,776, including 1,223 deaths. With 4,112 cases and over 60 deaths, Delhi is the third worst-hit state in the country.

With inputs from PTI