IPS probationers returning from Punjab, Delhi test COVID-19 positive

Naveen S Garewal
Tribune News Service
Hyderabad, June 10

The National Police Academy known as the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy (SVPNPA) at Hyderabad has tested two Indian Police Service (IPS) probationers positive for COVID-19.

Both men–in their early 30s—are from Delhi and Punjab cadres.

Sources from the Academy said that the two were among the 131 IPS probationers of 71 Regular Recruits (RR) 2018 batch—who returned from District Practical Training (DPT)—to the Academy.

All probationers that returned in different batches—between June 3 and June 6—for phase II training were quarantined at the academy for seven days.

Since, the quarantine period ended on Monday, their samples were collected for testing.

Two tested positive for coronavirus.

Anxiety is in the air of the Academy as several still await for their COVID-19 results, according to sources.

One of the two, who tested COVID-19 positive, was attached to a DCP in Delhi during his training, while the other trained at Bathinda.

An official statement from the Academy reads: “Two IPS trainees as of now have tested positive for the coronavirus. One is asymptomatic and the other is with very mild symptoms and the protocol is that they should be home quarantined, and we are taking care of them in the Academy itself,”

Together, there are about 300 IPS probationers at SVPNPA.

The probationers, who returned from their field training as a part of their DPT, have been kept under quarantine for 10 days.

COVID-19 tests of 45 probationers are expected anytime now.

Telangana’s Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) is the hub of COVID-19 pandemic with a majority of the cases being reported and treated in this area.

All the fresh cases were reported from different parts of Telangana, and no migrants, deportees or foreign returnees were found positive for coronavirus, said a Health Department bulletin.

Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy has written a letter to Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) expressing serious concern over the spread of the virus in Hyderabad-Secunderabad area.

He said that the Union Health Secretary had given some suggestions to state officials to check the spread of the virus, which needed to be followed effectively