COVID-19: 79 fresh cases in border guarding forces of BSF, ITBP

Seventy-nine personnel of two border guarding forces-- the BSF and the ITBP -- tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Saturday, officials said.

The about 2.5-lakh personnel strong Border Security Force (BSF) has reported 45 fresh COVID-19 cases and 39 recoveries, officials said quoting the latest data.

The force has 1,312 coronavirus cases in total and out of these 523 personnel are under treatment while 784 have recovered.

There have been five deaths from the disease in the force, tasked to guard India's fronts with Pakistan and Bangladesh. The fatalities included a BSF jawan who was killed in a road accident and his COVID-19 positive report came later.

The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), tasked to guard the 3,488-km long Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China, reported 34 new coronavirus cases and 12 recoveries in the last 24 hours.

It has reported 403 COVID-19 cases till now out of which 134 personnel are under treatment while 269 have recovered from the disease.

The 90,000 personnel mountain-warfare trained force has recorded two deaths due to the disease.

The highest number of fresh COVID-19 cases in the two forces are of those personnel who are joining their units and are under mandatory quarantine of 14 days before they resume active duty, a senior official said.