22 police personnel in Maharashtra died of COVID-19 so far

MUMBAI: Novel coronavirus has claimed the lives of at least 22 police personnel in Maharashtra so far, an official said on Thursday. With more than 130 police personnel testing coronavirus positive in the last 24 hours, their tally has now reached 2,095, the official said.

"Of the total number of infected police personnel 236 are officers, while 1,859 others are constabulary-rank staff. All of them are undergoing treatment at various hospitals," he said.

Seventy-five officers and 822 constabulary-rank personnel have recovered from the infection so far, he said.

According to the official, there were 254 incidents of assault on the police staff during the lockdown, and so far 833 people have been arrested in connection with these cases.

"More than 40 health professionals were also attacked by the anti-social elements during the lockdown," he said.

The Maharashtra Police has registered at least 1,16,670 offences under IPC section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) for violation of the lockdown order, in which 23,314 people have been arrested, he said.

Police have traced at least 705 people, who violated the home quarantine norms. This statistics excludes Mumbai, the official said.

The police control rooms across the state handled around 96,700 calls in connection with the queries related to the coronavirus outbreak, he said.

Police have registered 1,323 offences of illegal transport and seized 75,813 vehicles during the lockdown period, the official said, adding that fine of Rs 5.75 crore has been collected by the police for various offences.