CISF worst-hit by Covid-19 among all CAPFs due to airport duties

With 423 cases in the last 24 hours, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) is the worst-hit among Central Armed Police Forces by the Omicron-triggered third wave of the Covid pandemic with the highest number of the active cases due to its duty at major airports at Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru and in metro rail in many cities.

According to official data released on January 13, the CISF accounts for over 33 per cent of all active Covid cases in the paramilitary forces so far and most of its troopers who have tested positive are deployed at airports, including in Delhi and Mumbai, which recorded big surges in coronavirus cases since the beginning of this year.

As per the data, the CISF had 2,237 active cases till January 13 while the total number of active cases among all paramilitary forces stood at 6,595. The data also revealed that till January 10, the total number of Covid cases reported in the force was 1,307, 379 till January 6, and 485 till January 7.

The force has been reporting a high number of cases because of the deployment at the airports despite taking all precautionary measures like wearing masks, face shields, and making minimum contact with passengers, the numbers are still consistently high, CISF officials said.

The officials also said that this has been a trend as the CISF personnel are in contact with the foreign travellers arriving in India from various countries.

The CISF Director-General has directed all field units to take extra precautions.

Though the CISF tops in the tally, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the Border Security Force (BSF) are also facing the brunt of the third wave.

The latest data also revealed that the CRPF has recorded 362 cases in last 24 hours with active caseload of 1,824, followed by the BSF with 182 cases in last 24 hours and a total of 1,048 active cases while the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) saw 187 cases in last 24 hours but it has only 892 active cases.

Another border guarding force, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) has 365 active cases with only 60 cases reported in the last 24 hours. The National Security Guard (NSG) and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) are much better as they have recorded minimum cases - 48 and 181, respectively, as on January 13.

--IANS

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