COVID-19: Paramilitary forces asked to keep quarantine camps

All paramilitary forces, including the CRPF, the ITBP, and the BSF, have been advised to keep ready quarantine camps for COVID-19 suspects as a preparatory measure, Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy said here on Sunday.

As of now, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) is operating a camp which can house about 500 people near Delhi for the quarantine purpose and the facility has released two batches of people so far.

We have given instructions to all our paramilitary forces across the country to keep the quarantine facilities at their respective areas in case of any requirement. We have identified certain centres also for the camps and they are ready. They can accommodate any number of people as will be required by the Health Ministry, Reddy told reporters.

The quarantinecamps are to keep the people who came to India from coronavirus-affected countries for a period of 14 days to prevent the spread of the virus in case they carry it.

He said the ministries of Health and External Affairs have been appointed as pilot organisations to tackle COVID-19.

According to him, the Centre has been issuing advisories to all the states as and when necessary.

"India shares large border area with China, the epicentre of coronavirus spread. Due to measures being taken by the Indian government, the virus presence in the country is very less vis-a-vis the population, he claimed.

Reddy said there will be key announcements by the Union healthministry on the roadmap for the country on the measures that should be taken to prevent further spread of the novel coronavirus.

After a fresh case of the coronavirus on Saturday, taking the total number of confirmed cases in Telangana to two, the state government has announced a slew of measures, including closure of all educational institutions till March 31, to prevent the spread of the pandemic.