COVID-19: 53 fresh cases in BSF; total tally crosses 1,000-mark

New Delhi, June 30

Fifty-three more Border Security Force (BSF) personnel have tested positive for COVID-19, taking the overall infections in the largest border guarding force to over 1,000, officials said on Tuesday.

As per latest data, of the total 1,018 COVID-19 cases in the force, 659 personnel have recovered and 354 are under treatment.

There have been five deaths from the disease in the force, including the death of a personnel who was killed in a road accident whose COVID-19 positive report came later.

In the last 24 hours, 53 fresh cases had been reported in the force apart from four recoveries, the official said.

Of the 53, twenty-nine were reported from Odisha.

The about 2.5 lakh-personnel strong force is primarily tasked to guard Indian fronts with Pakistan and Bangladesh apart from rendering a variety of duties in the internal security domain of the country.

It is the largest border guarding force of the country with the two others being the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) with a strength of about 90,000 personnel and the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) that has a strength of about 80,000 men and women.

The ITBP, too, reported 14 fresh cases and one recovery on Tuesday.

It has reported a total of 331 cases out of which 237 have recovered from COVID-19 while 94 are under treatment.

There have been two deaths in the ITBP that is mandated to guard the 3,488 km-long Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China. PTI