NEW DELHI: The Central Reserve Police Force has constituted a special cell to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and ensure protection to its troops, officials said on Wednesday.
The country’s largest paramilitary force (CRPF), with about 3.25 lakh personnel, also for the first time saw the lowest number of positive coronavirus cases with only three personnel reporting the disease in the last 24 hours.
The total number of COVID-19 infected personnel in the force stands at 161, which includes the death of a 55-year-old official last week.
The headquarters of the force located at the CGO complex in Delhi also opened on Wednesday after it was sealed for sanitisation three days back following detection of the virus in two personnel working there.
“A special cell for COVID-19 management has been created in the force that will look after all issues related to the pandemic across all formations in the country. As the force is deployed extensively for internal security duties and public relief works despite the coronavirus outbreak, it is important to keep personnel safe from this new occupational hazard,” a senior CRPF official said.
He added that a direction has been issued, after a review of cases by force chief AP Maheshwari, to sanitise all CRPF establishments every Saturday with disinfectants.
Also, personnel above the age of 55 and with co-morbid health conditions will not be deployed for heavy duty or frontline operational tasks, he said. (PTI)
