As India braces for the COViD19 cases curve to reach its peak, in a major outbreak, over 20 sailors with the Indian Navy have tested positive for Corona Virus.
In a statement released by the Navy, 20 sailors of INS Angre, a shore-based logistics and administrative support establishment at Mumbai have tested positive. Many of them are asymptomatic and have been traced to a single sailor who tested positive on April 7. All the sailors reside in the same accommodation block prompting officials to declare it a containment zone.
A sailor, who was in touch with an ex-serviceman, had first tested positive on April 7. An aggressive checking on all primary contacts found 20 of them to be positive. Now a massive “contact tracing” operation is underway to find out people who have now come in contact with those who have tested positive.
So far, among the three Defence Services, the Army had reported eight positive cases. Naval Forces across the globe, especially France and the U.S., have been badly hit by the pandemic, with a large number of personnel testing positive on board their aircraft carriers. Indian Navy chief Admiral Karambir Singh on April 9 had stressed on the need for the forces to guard against outbreak while maintaining operational readiness.
