Covid-19 hits Maharashtra Police - 18 dead, 1,809 infected

Coronavirus continued to target the Maharashtra Police force, claiming the lives of 18 police personnel and infecting another 1,809 in the state, as per latest data released on Monday.

The infected include 194 officers and 1,615 personnel of whom a total of 1,113 are described as active cases.

Among the deceased are one officer and 17 police personnel, including around a dozen in Mumbai, with at least one in his early 30s.

According to an official, among the prime reasons for the large number of afflictions include long hours of duty in some of the worst-hit Covid-19 localities like Mumbai's Dharavi, managing crowds in the open or in market places and the overall congestion in the city.

The situation is expected to ease with the deployment of 20 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) since the past one week, which will give the state police respite in the form of break or leave in turns, the official added.

The worst-affected state in the country, Maharashtra has recorded 50,231 cases including 30,542 in Mumbai and 1,635 fatalities including the capital city's 1,110 deaths till Monday.

However, as a precaution, the Mumbai Police has already taken off duty all personnel above the age of 55, or those with serious ailments, and implemented stringent Covid-19 protocol for the entire force, since early May.

Nevertheless, the deaths and infections have not dampened the spirit of the police force from going after and booking 1,14,287 lawbreakers till date.

They include 695 cases in the state violating quarantine measures, 830 arrests in 248 cases of assault on policemen in which 86 were injured, and another 40 cases of attacks on health professionals.

Additionally, 1,322 offences of illegal transportation have been registered with 22,867 arrests and 71,045 vehicles seized in these operations.

From all these, the police department has also netted fines worth Rs 5.35 crore besides attending to 96,238 Covid-19-related calls on the police control room numbers.