Covid-19: Mumbai police personnel above 55 years of age to stay at home until May 3
Mumbai Commissioner of Police Param Bir Singh said in his order that personnel who are above 50-years-old and have co-morbidities can go on leave.
Mumbai Commissioner of Police Param Bir Singh has ordered all police personnel above the age of 55 to stay at home until the countrywide lockdown imposed to combat the coronavirus ends on May 3, the Hindustan Times reported on Tuesday. Singh issued a communique to all 94 police stations in the city to the effect.
The order also stipulates that police personnel, who are above 50 years and are suffering from multiple ailments such as hypertension, diabetes or any other major disease, can voluntarily go on leave.
The order comes after three police personnel died due to Covid-19 this month, and 55 took ill. All three policemen were over 50 years of age.
“If any police personnel, who is above 55 years comes for work, then that person won’t be given a field duty because he has a higher chance of getting infected,” an unidentified senior police officer said. The virus has been shown to disproportionately kill the elderly.
Another police officer said many personnel have been deployed across the city to ensure that people are strictly following lockdown and social distancing norms. The personnel are also managing containment zones across the city, he added.
“If we feel there is a shortage of manpower, additional forces will be sought from local arms,” the police officer said. “They will be deployed in Covid-19 hit areas.”
There have also been reports of people attacking police personnel on duty. On Monday, a mob that had gathered defying the lockdown attacked a team of officers in Shivaji Nagar area of Mumbai. A policeman sustained injuries. Four people were detained.
Last week, the Centre approved amendments to the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 to make attacks on healthcare professionals non-bailable offences that will carry an imprisonment from six months to seven years.
Mumbai had by Monday reported over 5,500 Covid-19 cases, the most for any city in the country, and 219 deaths, NDTV reported quoting figures from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. Maharashtra has the most number of Covid-19 infections in the country at 8,590 as of Tuesday morning, of which 369 people have died.
