THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: At a time when the state police are all set to train sniffer police dogs to detect Covid-19 infected people from their body odour, the dog squad of the city police here is grappling with a rise in Covid positive cases.
The virus infection was reported in the dog squad of the city police in which eleven officers have tested positive. Ten others are in quarantine, sources said.
The officers who are associated with the squad alleged that they were asked to report for duty despite the pandemic spread in the squad.
“The reason for the spread of the pandemic is that one officer, who was suffering from fever, was forced to join duty on February 1. From him, 10 others got infected.
Later, 10 more others were asked to go in quarantine. But the irony is that the officers who are in quarantine have been told to report for duty by taking the dogs to Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple where they have been assigned duty.
Though the officers requested the higher authorities not to put them on duty, nothing has turned positive”, a source said. It pointed out that dog squad in capital is engaged in CM’s and Governor’s security duty.
So the same officials among the 10 infected could be sent to duty without following restrictions which will endanger the safety of the VIPs too.
Meanwhile, a senior cop of the city police, who requested anonymity, told TNIE that the issue would be addressed soon.
“I am not aware of the issue. I will ask the official concerned to resolve the issue,” he said.