The city police control room is now getting desperate calls from people seeking details of beds for COVID-19 patients, oxygen and medicines. The police are re-redirecting such calls to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) control room.
The control room gets around 4,000 calls each day, and the staff work in three shifts with 45 members in each shift.
“We are getting hundreds of calls from people seeking information on beds, medicine and hospitals, and to help them with contact numbers,” said Isha Pant, DCP, Command Centre.
“It is heart-wrenching to hear the callers and their desperate situation. We try to calm them down in all possible ways and share the numbers required,” a staff member said.
“Those calls and voices haunt us for many hours even after we finish our shift,” another staff member said.
Many callers complain about the behaviour of people in public spaces when it comes to observing social distancing, hygiene and using face masks.
“This time, the city police’s focus is on enforcement and acting on information and complaints related to masks, social distance, and shops and commercial establishments violating lockdown guidelines. Policemen on the field for enforcement duties are working for over 15 hours. Many of them have not returned home and are staying back at the station as they want to cut down risk of infection for their families,” a police official said.
33 police personnel test positive
As many as 33 police personnel from the city tested positive on Monday, taking the total number of positive cases in the force to 875.
According to sources, seven of the new cases have taken the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine while 21 have taken both doses. However, five police personnel, who are infected, have not taken the vaccine so far.
As many as 11 police personnel have succumbed so far.
Among the 717 total active cases, 684 are in home isolation, 31 are admitted in general wards of various hospitals, one personnel has been given oxygen and one is in the Intensive Care Unit.
