Personnel from different law-enforcement agencies, who are struggling hard to fight against the pandemic over the outbreak of the deadly coronavirus, are now at great risk. According to the Police headquarters, so far at least 222 of the personnel have been infected by the virus.
As per the latest information received on Friday, the total number of infected people rose to 4,689, including deaths of 131 people. However, 112 of them have been recovered. According to sources concern, those law-enforcement personnel are falling in victims to the virus for the lack of adequate safety equipment or logistic supports.
The Police Headquarters officials said the number of infected police personnel was 101 till last Monday, but within only four days the number of infected personnel rose to 218. The Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) authorities said the number of infected personnel till last Tuesday in DMP was 80, but on Thursday, within three days, it rose to 117.
As per information received from the Police Headquarters, among the infected police personnel, 117 were from DMP, 3 from Chattogram Metropolitan Police (CMP) and 26 from Gazipur Metropolitan Police. One of the police stations in Gazipur has also been locked down due to coronavirus infection.
Besides, a policeman in Mymensingh, one of River Police personnel, one of Anti-Terrorism Unit, 16 in Narayanganj, 6 in Narsinghdi, 9 in Kishorganj, 18 in Gopalganj police, 3 in Sherpur, 2 in Dhaka district, 1 in Munsiganj and 1 in Jhalokathi district police were infected by the virus.
It should be mentioned that apart from their routine works of maintaining law and order, police personnel are working hard across the country to prevent spread of coronavirus infection. They are doing their best to make people aware of the pandemic and maintain social distance and enforce the lockdown enforced by the government. Police personnel are seen patrolling everywhere help people and the local administrations.
DMP Commissioner Shafiqul Islam said those police personnel, who have been infected by the virus, had been on duty outside to fight against the deadly virus. “Those police personnel had to go in touch with public”, said the DMP Commissioner. He, however, urged all other police personnel to remain safe and maintain safety measures during their duties.
The DMP Commissioner added that security and safety measures for the police personnel have been intensified so that law-enforcers could discharge their duties keeping themselves safe. “Those infected personnel have been isolated from other personnel”, he said. It is unfortunate that most of the police personnel were not served with Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) so that they could serve their duties with safety measures.
