Policeman tests positive for SARS-CoV-2

59 cops sent into quarantine; Kalamassery station disinfected; new team assumes charge

A civil police officer (CPO) of the Kalamassery police station within the Kochi city limits was tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, sending his 59 colleagues into quarantine on Thursday.

The cop was shifted to the Government Medical College Hospital, Kalamassery, around 1 p.m. He had been deployed for monitoring quarantined people to ensure that they complied with the protocol.

The others were either sent into home quarantine or the institutional quarantine facility at Eda Kochi. The Police Cooperative Credit Society and police associations have volunteered to bear all their expenses.

Of the 60-strong workforce at the station, one CPO alone was spared as he had gone on leave sometime ago. He is not expected to be back till next month.

Incidentally, a driver attached to the Police Academy at Thrissur too was asked to go into quarantine after it emerged that his wife worked at the Kalamassery station.

The officer who contracted the disease used to have lunch at the Armed Reserve camp mess at Kalamassery and frequently dropped in at a nearby tea stall, which implies that frequent visitors to these facilities may also have to be monitored in the coming days.

The station, which was shut down for disinfection was up and running by noon. Metro station Inspector A. Ananthalal has been given charge of the station with enough personnel drawn from other stations in Thrikkakara and Ernakulam sub divisions.

“People are advised to lodge petitions online and visit the station only in unavoidable circumstances. We will continue to monitor 161 persons in home quarantine within the station limits,” said Mr. Ananthalal.

The area is yet to be declared as a containment zone or hotspot.

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