1666 Maharashtra Police personnel infected with coronavirus, 18 cops dead so far

MUMBAI: The number of police personnel infected with the deadly coronavirus infection across Maharashtra has risen to 1666 and a total of 18 deaths reported in the state police force so far.

Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh took to Twitter to inform about the unfortunate demise of Head Constable Arun Phadtare who was posted at Vile Parle Police Station in Mumbai.

Mumbai Police regrets to inform about the unfortunate demise of HC Arun Phadtare from Vile Parle PStn. Being in the high-risk age-group, HC Phadtare was on leave for the past few days.

We pray for his soul to rest in peace. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Phadtare family. — Mumbai Police (@MumbaiPolice) May 22, 2020

Being in the high-risk age-group, HC Phadtare was on leave for the past few days. He died due to COVID-19 infection on Friday, he tweeted. 

In another tweet, the Mumbai Police chief said that at least 227 police personnel have successfully recovered from COVID-19 and are ready to report back to duty soon. 

२२७ #CoronaWarriors कोरोनावायरसवर मात करून घरी परतले आहेत.

आणि आपल्या शहराची सुरक्षितता सुनिश्चित करण्यासाठी पुन्हा काम करण्यास ते तेवढेच उत्सुक आहेत.#AamhiDutyVarAahot#आम्ही_ड्युटीवर_आहोत#TakingOnCorona pic.twitter.com/vNopMqKnbH — CP Mumbai Police (@CPMumbaiPolice) May 20, 2020

On May 21, Mumbai Police lost ASI Bhivsen Haribhau Pingle. ASI Pingle was battling coronavirus. Being in the high-risk age-group, he was on leave since April. On the same day, Mumbai Police informed about the unfortunate demise of HC Ganesh Chaudhari (57) from Parksite Police Station. He was also on leave since April.

The COVID-19 virus had last week claimed the life of ASI Madhukar Mane who was posted in Mumbai. State’s DGP and all ranks of Maharashtra Police had offered their condolences to the bereaved families of all the deceased police personnel. 

A large number of policemen have also been put in self-quarantine, which has left a staggering shortage of personnel in the police department.

To match the present requirements of police personnel, the Maharashtra government has sought Centre's help and asked to send around 2000 additional policemen from the Central Armed Police Forces to provide some respite to its own fatigued officers.

Maharashtra continues to be the worst-hit state by the deadly contagion. The state has a total number of 44582 cases of COVID-19 infection, which includes 1666 police personnel.

The death toll due to the deadly virus has risen to 1517 out of which 63 fatalities were recorded on Friday alone. In Mumbai alone, the number of coronavirus infections has reached 27251 with 1751 new cases of COVID-19 infection recorded on Friday alone.

On Friday, 27 fatalities due to COVID-19 were recorded in Mumbai alone. Out of the total 44582 cases, at least 12583 people have recovered from COVID-19 infection and discharged from the hospital.