Hyderabad: Officials in the city police department, in the frontline duties since the advent of the Covid pandemic two years ago, are yet again bearing the brunt of spread of the Omicron variant.
Currently, as many as 50 police staffers from the Hyderabad commissionerate are down with the virus, whereas 35 officials in the Cyberabad commissionerate are infected. With 32 police officials from the Hyderabad commissionerate testing positive in a day, immediate measures were taken by the city police officials to control the spread of the Omicron variant of Covid. In Hyderabad city police alone, two senior officials, three station house officers and two assistant commissioners of police are infected.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Hyderabad police commissioner C.V. Anand said all measures were taken at the police station level to curb the spread. “The petitioners are made to wear masks, sanitise hands and their temperatures are being checked. The reception area will have to be at a distance and plastic shields will be given if necessary. Even within the police station, the staff members are asked to maintain social distance and I have asked them not to eat food and have tea together in groups as the masks will be off during that time.
The toilets are cleaned 2-3 times a day and the staff are asked to keep all the doors and windows open for ventilation. Contact enforcement should be done very carefully from now on,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Rachakonda police commissioner, Mahesh M. Bhagwat, inaugurated the booster dose vaccination drive for the police personnel in his commissionerate on Tuesday at the Neredmet camp office and directed the staff to receive the booster dose vaccination. Apart from the camp office in Neredmet, the drive is on at the LB Nagar office and at the CAR headquarters as well. “The best way to tackle the virus is SMS (sanitiser, mask and social distancing).
Moreover, vaccination reduces the risk of hospitalisation and it may help police from the risk of fatality. The Rachakonda commissionerate is taking up all the initiatives to protect the staff from the Covid-19. All the police personnel, who were tested positive in the first and second waves, recovered from Covid-19. A dedicated Covid control room has been set up at Rachakonda commissionerate, which has been working round-the- clock to provide numerous services to the citizens besides the police personnel,” said the official.
“People should be more serious this time about the spread as the Omicron cases are rising around the world. The virus is spreading really fast and if they don't follow the instructions given by the authorities, we might be facing a bigger threat as the population here is much higher than the western countries. It is only with the support of people, we can end this epidemic," said a task force official who had ensured lockdown rules were not violated by patrolling during the two waves.
