By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Aug. 28: Twenty-two policemen stationed at the Metropolitan Police Circle, Maharajgunj, have tested positive for the coronavirus.
The first case was seen in a detainee of Maharajgunj from whom the policemen of the Circle caught the virus, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) and in-charge of the Circle Roshan Khadka, said.
The police personnel were found infected with the virus while tests were conducted on the suspected ones, he added.
Prior to the confirmation of additional 13 policemen having the virus on Thursday, nine others, including a police inspector and a detainee, had tested positive for the virus a week ago, he said.
Based under the contact tracing of previously infected nine persons, the Circle collected swabs of suspected policemen and among them, 13 policemen were found infected with the virus today, said DSP Khadka.
The Maharajgunj Police had detained Aang Dorje Sherpa and put him behind the bar on August 15 in an alleged murder charge of a youth, Laxman Rimal Tamang, 24, at Manamaiju of Tarkeshwore Municipality-6 on August 14.
Meanwhile, two police personnel, including a police inspector working at Cyber Bureau of Nepal Police in Bhotahiti, also tested positive for the virus on Wednesday evening.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) and spokesperson at the Nepal Police Headquarters Kuber Kadayat said the infected officer and one staff of Cyber Bureau were taken to the isolation ward of Nepal Police Hospital, Maharajgunj.
SSP Kadayat said that so far 1,351 policemen of different ranks and files had tested positive for the coronavirus across the country. Of them, 795 are still receiving treatment in different hospitals across the country, including Nepal Police Hospital, he said.
Among the total infected personnel, 556 have already been discharged from hospitals after beating the virus.
Of the 795 active cases in the organistaion, 163 police personnel are from the Kathmandu Valley alone, SSP Kadayat said.