7 BSF men among 11 test COVID positive in Tripura after 48 hours

AGARTALA: After two days break, 11 people, including seven BSF jawans, were tested COVID-19 positive in Tripura on Saturday taking the State's total positive cases to 167, officials said.

According to Tripura's health officials, of the 159 Border Security Force (BSF) personnel of two battalions (86th and 138th) and family members who tested positive so far, 40 including two kids have recovered and been discharged from the hospital.

Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb in a tweet said: "625 samples have been tested for COVID-19 and among them 11 persons found positive. (Of the 11) seven people from 86th battalion BSF and four civilians."

According to Deb, who also holds the Health and Home Departments, of the four civilians, two are truck drivers of other states and two recently returned to the state from Guwahati.

A three-member central team, which arrived in Tripura on Thursday to study the coronavirus infection among the BSF troopers and their kin, is now on a visit to the two BSF battalion (86th and 138th) headquarters in Ambassa, 82 km north of Agartala, and different parts of Dhalai district.

The Central team, led by GK Medhi, Professor and Head of the Department of Community Medicine of the Shillong-based North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health & Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS), is studying the source and other aspects of the coronavirus infection among troopers, officials and their family members.

The National Centre for Disease Control and the ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) officials from Delhi are guiding the central team. (IANS) 

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