BSF personnel flouted social distancing norms, led to 163 COVID-19 cases in Tripura: Biplab Deb

Agartala: Non-compliance with social distancing norms by BSF personnel upon their return from homes in other parts of the country has led to 163 COVID-19 cases in Tripura in the last few months, Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb said on Monday.

A central team sent by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to probe the COVID-19 outbreak in BSF barracks in Tripura has found that the personnel had not maintained social distancing norms after returning from their homes in February and March and they were not quarantined in the battalions, he told reporters.

The central team submitted its report on Sunday and it has been forwarded to the Ministry of Home Affairs, Deb said.

The commandant of the 138th battalion of the BSF, one of the affected battalions, was transferred after he failed to implement social distancing and quarantine in his battalion, the chief minister said.

The state government had in April asked Solomon Minz, Inspector General of the BSF's Tripura Frontier, to investigate and find the source of the COVID-19 outbreak in its battalions and submit a report to the administration, Deb said.

"The report which was supposed to have been submitted within a week since the communication has still not arrived," he said.

Later, in May, the Tripura government had requested the NCDC to send a team to investigate the matter.
A three-member team from the North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical

Sciences (NEIGRIHMS), Shillong, led by Professor G K Medhi investigated the issue by visiting all the affected areas including the BSF battalions in Dhalai district, Deb said.

"The BSF personnel had travel histories as many of them had rejoined duty after returning from their homes located outside the state," he said.

"They should have maintained social distancing norms. If the BSF authorities could not test the returnees at 1:5 ratios, they could have done so in at least at 1:10 ratio. The virus would not have spread at such a high rate among BSF personnel and their families in that case," he added.

Tripura has reported a total of 321 COVID-19 cases, of which 173 patients have recovered. The remaining patients are being treated at the state-run G B Pant Hospital in Agartala and several other COVID-19 healthcare centres.

More than 160 COVID-19 cases were reported in 138th, 186th and 3rd battalions of the BSF located in Dhalai district. Most of the BSF personnel afflicted with the disease have recovered.

Responding to the issue, a BSF public relations officer said that their nature of work mandates them to travel from one place to another. All mass gathering events like physical training and Sainik Sammelan have been indefinitely suspended in Tripura in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, he said.

As per reports, over 250 BSF personnel had returned to Tripura in March from leave or training in other parts of the country.