Bhubaneswar: Eight Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel at Kharagpur, West Bengal, have tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
A 32-year-old RPF constable posted at Balasore and quarantined at RPF barrack had tested positive for COVID-19 on April 20. Following which, the rest of the group members who had returned with him from New Delhi were shifted to supervised quarantines.
“Subsequently, samples of the rest of the staff, who had travelled in the same parcel train during their return, were collected for testing. Eight among them posted at different locations in West Bengal have tested positive,” PRO of South Eastern Railway Sanjay Ghosh was quoted as saying by TNIE on Friday.
The man from Balasore is undergoing treatment at Ashwini COVID Hospital in Cuttack.
In a briefing, the Railway dismissed the rumours that RPF staff violated quarantine and roamed around.
According to sources, 26 RPF men were sent to New Delhi for security-related duty and they stayed at Dayabasti RPF campus from March 20 to April 13.
They boarded a parcel train on April 13 and reached Howrah railway station the following day. They were picked by RPF truck, which dropped them at different barracks.
They were quarantined at barracks and empty railway quarters as per the protocol.
Meanwhile, the secondary contacts of the RPF staff have been quarantined and the barracks kept under strict supervision, the sources added.
