Police station sealed in Himachal after cop tests positive, coronavirus count now 66

Himachal Pradesh police sealed a police station in Kangra district after a head constable there tested positive for coronavirus, among the six new cases reported from the state on Tuesday.

The tally of COVID-19 cases has now increased to 66 in the state. So far, three people have died.

The premises of the Panchrukhi police were sealed and the entire staff quarantined, a police spokesperson said. It will now function from the Palampur police station building.

He said the people the infected head constable came in contact with are being traced.

Special Secretary (Health) Nipun Jindal on Tuesday said four fresh cases were reported from Kangra district and two from Hamirpur district.

The head constable is among the four people, aged 33, 40, 50 and 62, who tested positive in Kangra district, he said.

Two of them had returned from Jalandhar and Pathankot in Punjab recently. They tested positive for the infection at Tanda's Dr Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College (RPGMC).

Two men, aged 30 and 50, from Hamirpur's Bajrol area also tested positive. Both are asymptomatic and had returned from Delhi in the same taxi on May 1, an official said.

Thirty-nine people in the state have so far recovered from the infection.

Himachal Pradesh now has 24 active COVID-19 cases -- nine in Kangra, six in Chamba, four in Hamirpur, two in Bilaspur and one each in Mandi, Una and Shimla.