ITBP honours staffers who served at its Delhi quarantine facility for coronavirus

The Indo Tibetan Border Police, on Thursday honoured its doctors, paramedics, cooks and sanitation officials who served in a special quarantine centre set up here housing 406 people suspected to have been exposed to coronavirus, a spokesperson of the force said.

"Thank you for what you did. The country and the force is proud of you," ITBP Director General (DG) S S Deswal told the personnel after he held a special 'sainik sammelan' at the Chhawla camp of the force.

Deswal gave away the top award of the force called the 'DG commendation disc' to 28 personnel, appreciation letters to three while 32 staffers were presented with cash rewards, ITBP spokesperson Vivek Kumar Pandey said.

Those awarded include doctors, paramedics, cooks, staffers from the administrative wing, drivers, washermen and sanitation workers of the force, he said.

These personnel helped in preparing a jawans' residential barrack into a quarantine centre within 48 hours and kept it running for over a fortnight, the spokesperson said.

The third and final batch of inmates quarantined at this facility, after being evacuated from the coronavirus-hit Chinese city of Wuhan, was discharged on Thursday after there reports tested negative.

Facilities for living, eating, medical assistance and indoor games were made available at this camp that houses the Indo-Tibetan Border Police's logistics and communication setup.

A total of 650 people were brought back from Wuhan in China on February 1 and 2 in two 747 Boeing Air India aircraft after the outbreak of coronavirus in that country.

While 406 of the the evacuees, including seven Maldivian nationals, were sent to the ITBP facility, the rest were quarantined at an Army centre in Haryana's Manesar.

With more stranded Indians are expected to be brought back from China in the wake of the epidemic threat, the ITBP facility is all prepared to host more such people, a senior official said.

The ITBP is a border guarding force with the primary task of guarding the 3,488-km Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China. It functions under the Union Home Ministry.

The death toll from the coronavirus epidemic in China has climbed to 2,118 with the death of 114 more people, while the overall confirmed cases increased to 74,576, Chinese officials said on Thursday.