50 NDRF Personnel Who Worked During Cyclone Amphan Test Positive For Coronavirus

NEW DELHI: At least 50 National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel who worked during Cyclone Amphan in West Bengal and Odisha have tested positive for coronavirus.

According to the reports, more than 170 personnel were tested for COVID-19 after they have returned to their base in Cuttack and Odisha from West Bengal.

The officials said that the personnel were tested on the basis of contact tracing after one of them deployed during Cyclone Amphan in West Bengal was found infected with the coronavirus a few days ago. The NDRF authorities had ordered testing of all personnel who went on the rescue operations in West Bengal.

Sources say that the officials have gone for self-quarantine in a three-storied building in the NDRF campus at Mundali near Cuttack. A senior officer of the federal contingency force said that, "Almost all of them are asymptomatic. More tests are being done. Those who have tested positive for coronavirus have been admitted to hospital isolation facilities."

The NDRF had deployed 19 teams in West Bengal for relief and rescue work during and after the cyclone Amphan. Each team has about 45 personnel. More than two dozen NDRF personnel in other parts of the country have tested positive for coronavirus.

The total number of coronaviurs cases in India continued to increase. A total of 9,983 people have been tested positive for the virus in last 24 hours. According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare data, the total number of coronavirus cases in the country stood at 2,56,611.