KOLKATA: Six policemen of the Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate in West Bengal have tested positive for COVID-19, taking the count of its infected personnel to around 200 so far, officials said on Monday.
Five personnel posted at the Lake police station and one at the Bidhannagar East police station have tested positive for COVID-19, following which the buildings were sanitised, a senior officer of the commissionerate said.
All those who had come in contact with these police personnel have been asked to go under home isolation, he added.
"Those who had come in contact with these policemen will be tested. We are not taking any chance," the officer said.
Meanwhile, three police personnel posted at the Onda police station in Bankura district have also tested positive for COVID-19 and they have been hospitalised, sources said.
Sukesh Jain, police commissioner of the Asansol- Durgapur Police Commissionerate has also tested positive for COVID-19 a few days back, they added.
The COVID-19 death toll in West Bengal rose to 1,372 on Sunday with 40 new fatalities, while the tally of cases rose to 58,718 with 2,341 more people getting infected with the virus in 24 hours, a Health department bulletin said.
It also said that of the 40 deaths, 39 were because of comorbidities where COVID-19 was incidental.
Among the fresh deaths, Kolkata reported 17 fatalities, Howrah nine, North 24 Parganas five, South 24 Parganas four, two each from Hooghly and Darjeeling and one from Uttar Dinajpur, the bulletin said.
On Sunday, the state capital saw 648 new instances of the viral infections, North 24 Parganas 542, Howrah 291, South 24 Parganas 133, Hooghly 127 and Darjeeling 123, it added.
The other 477 fresh cases were reported from other districts of the state.
The number of active COVID-19 cases in the state has gone up to 19,595.
In the last 24 hours, 2,097 patients have been discharged from different hospitals in the state improving the discharge rate to 64.29 per cent.
So far, 37,751 people have recovered from COVID-19 in West Bengal.
Since Saturday, 16,045 samples have been tested in the state, the bulletin added.
Meanwhile, the broad-based containment zones in West Bengal increased to 1,057 on Sunday evening, according to the state government website 'Egiye Bangla'.