50% drop in new Covid cases in Kolkata Police – Times of India

Kolkata: For a force that has taken multiple steps to fight the Covid pandemic — from introducing monitoring apps and Covid-specific SOPs to monitoring the health of the kin of its officers admitted to various hospitals — it seems that the efforts are paying off. The past week saw a very healthy recovery rate with over 400 cops resuming duty.
For the first time in the past 50 days, the total number of new Covid cases reported in Kolkata Police fell below 15. When the month began, the number was over 40 on an average. “The numbers started falling from last week. On Tuesday, fresh cases dropped to just nine. However, on Wednesday, the number went up to 20. On Thursday, there were 14 cases and we had the lowest number of fresh cases — eight — on Friday,” a senior IPS officer in charge of the welfare cell said.
More importantly, the total number of active cases is now below 150 — the lowest since the beginning of July, point out senior cops. In the beginning of this month, the force had around 300-350 active cases per day. In total, 1,917 cases were reported in Kolkata Police till Friday. A total of 1,788 had recovered till Thursday noon. “We always had a very healthy recovery rate. This time, if we can manage to keep the number of new cases below 10 for a few more days, we shall know that our measures are working,” another Lalbazar officer said.
Cops said the rate of hospitalization, too, saw a major drop. Most of the cops, including OCs and ACPs, were opting for home isolation.
The healthy recovery rate, though, brought a challenge. The past 48 hours saw at least nine new applications for plasma donation from the police. So far, cops have donated plasma 12 times in the city. But officers said they had started receiving requests from outside Kolkata on Tuesday. “All these patients are admitted to Kolkata hospitals,” said an officer. TOI had reported how cops had prepared an internal plasma donor list . “We are trying to help as much as possible,” another officer from the welfare cell said.
Those seeking police help said there was no organized unit where they could seek help. “The response has been instant from cops. That is why we pinned our hopes on them,” said the relative of a patient who received plasma from a sergeant at a Mukundapur Hospital.