531 Maharashtra cops infected by COVID-19 so far; 39 recovered

Mumbai, May 7: As many as 531 Maharashtra police personnel, including 51 officers, have tested positive for COVID-19 so far, an official said on Thursday. Among these infected police personnel, 480 are constables, who are being treated at various hospitals in the state, the official said.

Out of the 531 coronavirus positive police personnel, 39, including eight officers, have recovered from the disease, he said. So far, five policemen have died due to the virus, the offical said. Earlier in the day, Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said that 487 policemen have tested COVID-19 positive in the state ever since the nationwide lockdown came into force. The lockdown was imposed on March 24 and has been extended till May 17 to contain the spread of coronavirus.

Taking to Twitter, Deshmukh said, "487 police personnel have tested positive for COVID-19 since the lockdown." Meanwhile, the official said the Maharashtra Police have registered at least 96,231 offences so far under section 188 of the IPC for violation of lockdown-related norms and arrested 18,858 people.

The IPC section 188 deals with disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant. Since the lockdown, there had been 189 incidents of assault on policemen (till May 7) in which 73 personnel and a home guard sustained injuries, the official said, adding at least 683 persons had been arrested for these attacks. Around 30 health professionals had been also attacked during this period, the official said.

Police have traced at least 649 people, who violated quarantine norms in the state, excluding the financial capital, the official said. At least 85,309 phone calls were handled by various police control rooms across the state in connection with the virus, he said.

Police have registered 1,281 offences of illegal transport and seized 53,330 vehicles which had come on roads in violation of lockdown rules, the officail said.

A fine of Rs 3.56 crore has been collected from violators by the police for various offences during this period, he said. Earlier, in a series of tweets, Deshmukh said 3,10,694 passes have been issued for essential service providers and those caught in emergencies till now.

The minister said that 2,24,219 people have been isolated in the state for possible exposure to the coronavirus and 649 were found to be violating quarantine norms.

"The state govt's running 4,738 relief camps where 4,35,030 migrant labourers have been given refuge with food & necessities. 1,281 offences have been registered for illegal transport," he said on the micro-blogging site.