9 RPF personnel test positive for COVID-19 in West Bengal

Nine Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel, who had recently gone to Delhi for some urgent official work, have tested positive for COVID-19, an official from the South Eastern Railway (SER) said on Friday.

The personnel were part of a 28-member RPF contingent from the Kharagpur division of SER, which had returned on April 14 from the national capital with a consignment of arms and ammunition aboard a parcel express train, he said.

After one constable developed coronavirus-like symptoms, his swab was tested at a government facility in West Bengal on Thursday.

He was admitted to a designated private COVID-19 hospital at Uluberia after his report came positive, SER spokesman Sanjay Ghosh said.

The reports of eight others also came positive, he said.

Apart from the nine RPF personnel, a few tested negative while test reports of the remaining personnel were awaited, the spokesperson said.

Ghosh said all the 28 RPF constables had been on mandatory quarantine since their return from Delhi.