Central police forces record over 7K Covid-19 cases with 242 new infections

The number of coronavirus cases in the central police forces under the command of the Union home ministry have gone over 7,000 with 242 fresh infections being reported on Wednesday, according to the latest data.

The cases pertain to the seven forces -- Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Force (BSF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), National Security Guard (NSG) and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).

As per the latest data accessed by PTI, these forces have recorded a total of 7,059 Covid-19 patients till now out of which 3,233 are active cases while the rest of the personnel have recovered.

The maximum cases at 2,229 has been recorded in the CRPF, the country's largest paramilitary force that comprises about 325,000 personnel.

This is followed by 2,093 cases in the BSF and 1,306 cases in the CISF.

The about 250,000 personnel strong BSF guards the Indian fronts with Pakistan and Bangladesh, while the CISF is the national civil aviation security force.

The ITBP has 732 cases, the SSB 300, NDRF 313 and the NSG 86 cases.

The ITBP guards the 3,488 km long India-China LAC, the SSB guard the open Indian borders with Nepal and Bhutan, the NDRF is the central disaster contingency force and the NSG is the federal counter-terrorist and counter-hijack combat commandos force.

Among the 242 fresh Covid-19 cases reported on Wednesday, the maximum 77 cases have been reported in the CRPF, 68 in the BSF, 43 in the ITBP, 41 in the CISF and 13 in the SSB, the data said.

The data says samples of at least 691 personnel of these forces have been taken and results are awaited.

There have been 36 coronavirus deaths in these forces with the maximum 13 fatalities in the CRPF, nine each in the BSF and CISF, three in the ITBP and two personnel have succumbed to the disease in the SSB.

These forces, with a combined strength of about 1million personnel, render a variety of security duties, law and order management, border guarding, counter-insurgency and counter-terrorist operations and disaster rescue and relief under the command of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).