49 More NDRF Jawans Test Corona Positive In Cuttack

Cuttack: Cuttack district saw a sudden spike in COVID-19 cases on Monday with 49 personnel of 3rd battalion of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) at Mundali testing positive for COVID-19.

They are among the 173 NDRF jawans, who had recently returned after cyclone Amphan relief and rescue operations in West Bengal, official sources said.

With this, the number of corona cases detected in the battalion has gone up to 50. Three days ago, an NDRF jawan had tested positive for the virus.

NDRF DG Satya Pradhan has also confirmed that 50 NDRF personnel in Odisha have tested corona positive after returning from Cyclone Amphan duties in West Bengal. All of them are asymptomatic, he tweeted.

An NDRF official in Mundali told the Hindustan Times that one of the personnel showed COVID-19 symptoms and later tested positive for the deadly virus. He was admitted to Ashwini Hospital in Cuttack. Thereafter, the swab samples of all NDRF jawans, who had gone to Bengal, were tested and results of 49 were found to be positive.

The sources further said that 376 personnel of Odisha Fire Services, who had also travelled to West Bengal for Amphan rescue work, have been kept in isolation at the temporary medical camps on Krupajal Engineering College campus and at Revenue officers’ training institute. They will undergo a COVID-19 test.

Another 271 personnel of the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force are also in 14-day isolation, the sources added.

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