Bhubaneswar: A staggering number of 149 personnel sent to West Bengal on Amphan Duty have tested positive for COVID-19 till Sunday morning. 13 NDRF, ODRAF and Fire Service personnel tested positive within the last 24 hours. All of them are under treatment at various Covid hospitals.
Accordingly, others who had accompanied them have been advised mandatory home quarantine for 14 days and asked to report if symptoms appear. Notably, there has not been a single recovery for the WB-returnee personnel.
About 500 personnel of Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) and Odisha Fire Service (OFS) and 10 teams of NDRF had been sent to West Bengal on May 23 to assist the West Bengal government in clearing roads, tree cutting etc. in the aftermath of Cyclone Amphan.
Extremely severe cyclone Amphan, which made its landfall near Sunderbans in West Bengal on May 20, had ravaged the State leaving behind a trail of devastation both in loss of life and property.
Later, CM Naveen Patnaik had praised the efforts of the Fire Services and ODRAF teams which helped restore normalcy in the neighbouring state. Apart from this, the Fire Services have played a crucial role in disinfecting and sanitising the quarantine centres and workplaces.
