12 BSF jawans test positive in Tripura

AGARTALA: Twelve BSF jawans from the 138th battalion posted at Ambassa in Dhalai district tested positive for Covid-19 on Sunday night, taking the number of active cases in the state to 14.
Two jawans had tested positive on Saturday and the health department had located more than a hundred people during contact tracing.
The twelve jawans have been shifted to Dhalai district hospital, while the two jawans, who had tested positive on Saturday, are admitted to Agartala Medical College and Hospital, where they are said to be responding to treatment.
While announcing the fresh Covid cases, chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb urged people not to panic and said, "Please follow the government's guidelines. We are vigilant for your safety. The state government has taken all-out efforts and is prepared to tackle any eventuality."
According to reports, immediately after the detection of the first case from the BSF battalion, the health department had quarantined a large number of jawans who came in contact with the jawans who tested positive. After 12 new cases, the entire battalion has been quarantined while the process to identify their contacts outside the camps, mostly in markets and other facilities, has started.
Source of infection for 1st Tripura jawan not yet known
The government has not yet confirmed the source of infection in the battalion.
However, it is reported that the 49-year-old jawan, who was the first one to test positive in the battalion, was posted at an isolated border outpost in Gandacherra where a large stretch of India-Bangladesh border is unfenced.
There have been reports of cross-border movement from Bangladesh in different parts of the state, including Gandacherra.
It is suspected that the jawan might have come in contact with an affected person from Bangladesh unknowingly, leading to the spread of the infection to the entire battalion.
Sources said the first jawan was on duty at Koriana border outpost along Indo-Bangladesh border at Gandacherra opposite the Chittagong Hill Tract since March 12.
He hailed from Sivasagar in Assam and was admitted to Dhalai district hospital on April 25 last. The second jawan was posted as an attendant of the first effected jawan in the hospital since April 29.
All 12 persons found on Sunday were asymptomatic and they have no complained of health problems.