The source of infection has remained a mystery for the Border Security Force (BSF) after the first few of its 54 of its personnel and eight members of their families tested COVID-19 positive in a Tripura camp five days ago.
Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb had on May 2 declared the State novel coronavirus -free. But two personnel posted at the BSF’s 138 Battalion in Ambassa tested positive later that day.
Ambassa, 82 km north of State capital Agartala, is the headquarters of Dhalai district bordering the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh.
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“We have through Principal Secretary (Home) B.K. Sahu asked the Inspector-General of BSF Tripura Frontier, Solomon Y.K. Minzh to submit a report with details on the source of the infection,” Ratan Lal Nath, the State’s Education and Law Minister told newspersons.
Mr. Nath, also the Tripura government spokesperson, said 366 people comprising 80 doctors and health workers, and 286 troopers of the paramilitary force, have been identified for directly or indirectly coming in contact with the infected BSF men.
“We have taken steps to prevent the infection from spreading besides trying to identify the primary and secondary sources of infection of our jawans,” a senior BSF official in Tripura said.
He added that the head constable at the Ambassa camp, from Assam’s Sivasagar district, had been suffering from some ailment after he rejoined duty on March 11. The infection, however, is yet to be traced to him.
Officials in Tripura did not rule out the possibility of BSF personnel being infected from people along the international border.
Tripura shares an 856-km border with Bangladesh, where the number of COVID-19 positive cases has crossed the 12,000 mark besides killing 190 people. The virus has spread to 62 of the country’s 64 districts, including those bordering Tripura.
