Rourkela: Odisha jails have been witnessing a rise in COVID-19 cases and Thursday saw 17 prisoners of Rourkela Special Jail testing positive for the virus.
They have been admitted to Rourkela COVID Hospital.
The infected jail inmates were among the 86 positive cases detected in the district, the Sundargarh district magistrate tweeted on Thursday.
Following detection of the cases, the city municipal corporation sanitised the jail premises.
On June 7, six under-trial prisoners of the jail had tested positive for COVID-19. Following which, over 500 inmates went on a hunger strike demanding test for all staff and prisoners.
The first COVID-19 case from jail was reported from Puri on May 17. The number swelled to 96 by July 31. These cases were reported from 10 prisons, the state prison directorate had informed. Seventeen staff of four jails have also contracted the virus.
To decongest prisons and check the spread of the virus, 16,789 inmates from jails across the state have so far been released on parole.
