Five Bihar Military Police (BMP) personnel on Saturday tested positive for COVID-19, which took the total number of infected people in the State to 580.
The development comes after a head constable (havildar) of 14th battalion earlier tested positive for COVID-19.
The havildar retired on March 31 but could not return to Gumla district in neighbouring Jharkhand due to lockdown and was living in the same barrack inside the headquarters located in Khajpura locality of Patna.
The headquarters where other battalions of BMP too are stationed has been declared a containment zone. Over 500 BMP personnel from 14th, 10th and 5th battalion are said to be living on the campus.
“All the 17 BMP personnel who shared the barrack with the retired havildar have been quarantined along with him”, said an official.
The havildar is said to be suffering from tuberculosis and asthma as well. On May 6, he went to Patna-AIIMS for check up due to illness and when he was tested for COVID-19, he was found positive.
“As a precautionary measure, all vehicles and offices including core areas of BMP-5, BMP-10 and BMP-14 are getting sanitized along with the help of Municipal Corporation”, said senior police official Jitendra Kumar.
This is the first instance of BMP personnel testing positive for the virus in the State. The infected BMP personnel are aged 30, 36, 50, 52 and 57 years.
“We are ascertaining their infection trail,” State Principal Health Secretary Sanjay Kumar tweeted on Friday night.
Bihar, so far, has reported 580 COVID-19 positive cases, with five deaths. As many as 257 have recovered from the disease.
