Mumbai Police to get Rapid Antigen test to fight COVID-19

BMC's medical staff conducts a Rapid Antigen test on a Mumbai Police personnel at Nityananda Hall in Sion on Saturday. Pic/Ashish Raje

In an attempt to control the spread of Coronavirus among cops, the Mumbai Police is now undergoing Rapid Antigen Test. These will be conducted on policemen between the ages of 45 and 55 working across 94 police stations.

There are 1,773 cops who are undergoing treatment for COVID-19 infections in the Maharashtra Police force. This includes 204 officers and 1,569 police personnel. Due to the virus, 90 police personnel have died in the state. To reduce the infection, every effort is being made to detect this infection in time. And for this purpose, the tests, which gives results in 30 minutes, have been rolled out for police officials, too.

According to the Mumbai Police, the tests will be conducted till July 29. Divisional assistant commissioner of police (ACP) will be the coordinators in the process and they will make sure every cop gets tested. Any official found to be positive, will be rushed to a BMC or government hospital for treatment or to a quarantine centre for swab tests. The task of getting staff of each police station tested has been entrusted to the concerned senior police inspector.

In Mumbai Police force, 22 per cent of the infected are aged between 40-50, while 17 per cent are above the age of 50. Although the Mumbai Police Force has the highest number of COVID-19 victims in the age group of 45 to 55, 82 per cent of the dead policemen are over 50 years of age.

Navi Mumbai police, in collaboration with the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation, has decided to conduct antigen tests for each and every cop in city. Till now, more than 1,000 cops have been tested. According to Navi Mumbai Police, 450 cops and their family members have been infected by Coronavirus.

What is the Rapid Antigen Detection Test?

In this test, antigens are detected by taking samples from the patient's nose. Antigen is an extracellular fluid that is mixed into the body's immune system. The rapid antigen detection test detects whether the patient is Corona positive or not within half an hour.

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