15 inmates, staffer test positive for COVID-19 at Delhi's Rohini jail

Days after a 28-year-old inmate of Rohini jail tested positive for coronavirus, 15 others who shared a barrack with him and one head warden have also tested positive for the infection, officials said.

The Delhi Prison Department had tested for coronavirus 19 inmates from the barrack of the prisoner whose reports came back positive for the infection on Wednesday, they said.

All inmates and the staffer are asymptomatic so far.

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"We had conducted COVID-19 tests for 19 inmates of Rohini jail who were sharing the barrack with one inmate Kuldeep who had tested positive earlier at DDU Hospital where he had gone for (treatment of) some other ailment," Director General (Prisons) Sandeep Goel said.

Their test results have come and 15 out of these 19 inmates have tested positive. Five staff members were also tested. Among them, one head warden has tested positive for COVID-19, he said.

So far, Goel said, all these people are asymptomatic. The inmates who have tested positive have been separated from others. They have been kept in isolation in quarantine barrack.

The head warden has been sent to home quarantine. Some other staff members have also been sent to home quarantine, he added.

"Regular medical screening of all inmates is already being done and it will continue. The sanitisation process is also being carried out and all necessary action as per medical protocol is being taken," the DG said.

The 28-year-old inmate's case was the first coronavirus infection to be reported from a Delhi prison.

He underwent intestine surgery at Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) Hospital on Sunday. Doctors took his samples for a COVID-19 test the next day. The inmate did not show any coronavirus symptoms.

He was later admitted to Lok Nayak Hospital.