5 BSF men suffering from chronic kidney disease, cancer recover from COVID-19

Five BSF personnel suffering from chronic kidney disease and cancer are among the 74 Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) personnel who have recovered from the novel coronavirus disease, as per official data issued on Sunday.

These five paramilitary forces -- the Central Reserve Police Force, Border Security Force, Central Industrial Security Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police force and the Sashastra Seema Bal -- also saw 28 fresh cases of COVID-19, taking their combined active cases to 680, as per data accessed by PTI.

"Thirteen personnel have been discharged since yesterday (Saturday) after they tested negative for coronavirus," BSF spokesperson Shubhendu Bhardwaj said.

"These include five brave bordermen who got infected while undergoing treatment oftheir other ongoing battle with CKD-V that is a chronic kidney ailment (three men) and cancer (two personnel)," he said.

The official added that the personnel being discharged will undergo another round of quarantine before joining work.

BSF, the 2.5 lakh personnel-strong force that guards India's fronts with Pakistan and Bangladesh, now has 205 active cases apart from two deaths due to the pandemic.

Overall, 148 BSF personnel have recovered from the disease till now, Bhardwaj added.

The CRPF also saw 54 more recoveries, taking down the tally of its overall active cases to 174 apart from the death of a Sub-Inspector rank official last month.

Its 31st battalion based in Delhi, that became a COVID-19 hotspot as about 137 personnel were infected within its campus in Mayur Vihar phase-III area, has seen close to 100 recoveries now.

The country's largest paramilitary CRPF, with a strength of 3.25 lakh personnel, reported no fresh case of coronavirus infection to its troops.

The ITBP, that guards the 3,488 km-long Line of Actual Control (LAC), saw 13 fresh cases and 164 of its personnel are under treatment for COVID-19 at present.

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