34 Bhopal cops COVID-19 positive, official blames Jamaat event
The official claimed that as per the findings, theinitial infections in the city's police force were caused whenthe personnel went out in search of those who had returned tothe state capital after attending the Tablighi Jamaatcongregation at Delhi's Nizamuddin held last month.
"With a policeman in our cyber cell testingcoronavirus positive this morning, 34 of our personnel,including officers, have been infected so far," BhopalAdditional Director General of Police, Upendra Jain, told .
Besides them, around 30 of their family members havealso contracted the infection, he added.
In order to curb the spread of the virus and to keeptheir family members safe, around 2,100 police personnel inthe city are not going homes after their duty hours.
"They have been put up in hotels and provided PPEkits, sanitisers and food," he added.
"After an analysis, we came to know that the virusfound its way into the police force when our personnel wentout to search for the people who had come to Bhopal afterattending the congregation of Tablighi Jamaat in Delhi lastmonth," Jain said.
"As per the findings, there was no other sourceinitially, except the Nizamuddin attendees, from whom theycould have contracted the infection. The police went to themosques under Jahangirabad and Ashbagh police stationstowards the end of last month to look for the attendees," hesaid.
Already 30-35 Jamaat members, including foreigners,who had come from Delhi, had tested coronavirus positive, Jainsaid.
He, however, said that all the policemen were notinfected due to the Nizamuddin attendees.
"One of them contracted the infection as he was partof a medical team visiting homes to check the virus spread. Afew others got infected in the containment areas and duringthe general duty, but the virus crept into police forcethrough the Nizamuddin attendees," he said.