A 57-year-old policeman attached to Sewri Police Station in Maharashtra’s Mumbai succumbed to COVID-19 early on Wednesday morning, taking the death toll of policemen claimed by coronavirus to five in Mumbai and eight in the state.
According to Sewri Senior Police Inspector GB Kurade, Assistant Sub-Inspector Murlidhar Waghmare breathed his last at a hospital in Navi Mumbai late on Tuesday.
Following the state police’s decision last week to take off from duty all cops above the age of 55, Waghmare had been told to remain at home.
He is survived by his wife and a son who live in Navi Mumbai, said Kurade.
Waghmare was reportedly suffering from hypertension when he contracted the disease and succumbed in hospital.
Besides Waghmare, another four policemen, mostly in their 50s, have already fallen victim to COVID-19 in the past two weeks in Mumbai, and one each in Pune, Nashik and Solapur.
Another 1,000-plus police personnel, including 106 officers, have tested positive around the state and are under treatment in various hospitals, among them being 400 from Mumbai.
Several thousands of policemen in the state are in quarantine as a precautionary measure.
In April, Mumbai Police had asked their personnel who are above 55 years of age and having some pre-existing ailment to go on leave, in a bid to protect them from the Coronavirus infection. They have been told not to come for work until the virus is brought under control.
The decision was taken by the Mumbai Police Chief Param Bir Singh after three policemen, who were above the age of 50, died of Coronavirus.
Maharashtra remains the worst-affected as a total of 24, 427 cases and 921 deaths have been reported so far.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra has requested the Centre for 20 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) to rest its own fatigued police force who have been out on the streets since the March 22.
“Our police force has been working day and night to enforce the lockdown necessitated by the corona pandemic. Now we also have festivals like Eid coming up. We have to make arrangements to maintain law and order. The police need to get some rest. Which is why we have requested 20 companies of the Centre’s Central Armed Police Forces or 2,000 men. The state government has made the request the Central Government,” Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh was quoted as saying by NDTV.