KOLKATA: A BSF driver, who escorted the Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT) in Kolkata and its adjoining areas, tested positive for Covid-19. He has been admitted to an isolation facility. Over 50 personnel of the force have been quarantined and 20 of them have been tested till now and their reports are awaited.
The six-member IMCT in Kolkata was staying at the BSF guest house in Kolkata and all its required logistics such as vehicles, security personnel, and food were provided by the paramilitary force. The central team flew to Delhi on Monday. Kolkata is the headquarters of the BSF’s South Bengal frontier that guards over 950 km of the India-Bangladesh border.
According to BSF officials, the constable was attached to the IMCT that travelled in Kolkata and other places to review the Covid-19 outbreak situation in Bengal. "The BSF driver fell ill on April 30 and tested positive on Sunday. He has now been admitted to an isolation facility of the state government. Over 50 persons, who were in touch with the infected jawan, have been quarantined," said a BSF official.
The official said the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has been informed about the BSF constable’s infection.
The IMCT arrived Kolkata on April 20, a day after the MHA announced its Bengal visit in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic situation in the state. Since then, it stayed at the guest house located on the premises of the paramilitary’s forces south Bengal frontier headquarters in Ballygunge.