Mumbai: With the second wave of COVID-19 raging, senior Mumbai police officials have decided that they would want their entire force to be on duty. Hence, unlike last year, where police personnel above the age of 55 and those with comorbidities, were allowed to stay home, will now have to be on duty. But Mumbai police commissioner Hemant Nagrale clarified that men above the age of 55 or those with comorbidities will be given only indoor duties.
"As the pandemic situation is worsening, we need our entire manpower. Unlike last year, we are calling cops above 55 age group as well. However, they have been asked to do only indoor duties to minimise risk of contracting the virus," said Nagrale. Last year, when the pandemic was at it's peak, Mumbai police personnel above 55 age and 50+ cops with comorbidities were allowed to stay at home.
The city police chief Hemant Nagrale has already said that all the possible measures have been taken to prevent the virus spread among the force. So far over 70 percent of police personnel have taken first dose of vaccination while over 41 percent have received their second doses. The police chief has also warned people from spreading rumours.
In another departmental decision, Mumbai police has planned to restart its dedicated COVID care facility for its personnel at Bandra-Kurla complex. The plan comes with the number of active cases in Mumbai police increasing to 575. Since March 2020, Mumbai police has lost 102 of its personnel to COVID-19.
There were four dedicated COVID care centres dedicated for Mumbai police personnel, but as the cases dropped these centres were made non-functional. "Looking at the recent spike in cases, we have decided to reopen a dedicated COVID care facility at Bandra-Kurla Complex for which work will be started in coming week," said Mumbai police spokesperson and deputy commissioner of police, S Chaitanya.
“A month ago daily COVID19 cases within the police force had reduced to single digit, however as the second wave hit the state, the number of daily infections from the Mumbai police reached 25-30 cases daily. The same rise have been observed in their family members as well. It is one of the reasons of reopening the dedicated COVID care facility at the earliest, said another police officer.
