Gujarat: 52 BSF jawans test positive for COVID-19 in two weeks

At least 52 jawans of the Border Security Force (BSF) from a battalion of 433 have tested positive for COVID-19 in the last two weeks at Palanpur in Gujarat's Banaskantha district, an official said on Tuesday.

While 20 personnel were found infected till Monday, 32 more tested positive for the disease during the day, Banaskantha district epidemic officer Dr Naresh Garg said.

The 52 infected personnel were asymptomatic and currently recuperating at Tharad town, where they were quarantined in a government-run hostel, the official said.

The jawans were part of a BSF battalion of 433 personnel, who had arrived in Palanpur from Nagaland on July 3.

"Since the BSF has made it compulsory for jawans to undergo a COVID-19 test before their deployment, an exercise to test the personnel began earlier this month. Initially, seven jawans tested positive. Subsequent tests found 13 more with the infection," he said.

On Tuesday, reports of 32 jawans came positive, while the remaining are negative, the official said, adding that samples from the infected personnel have been sent to a laboratory in Gandhinagar to ascertain the variant of the virus.