31-yr-old constable is Delhi Police's 1st COVID-19 fatality

A 31-year-old Delhi Police constable who died on Tuesday evening after falling sick has tested positive for coronavirus, becoming the city police's first COVID-19 fatality, officials said on Wednesday.

The constable's swab sample was sent for COVID-19 test and the reports came as positive on Wednesday, they said.

This is the first COVID-19 casualty in Delhi Police.

More than 26 police personnel of the force have tested positive for the virus so far. Some of them have resumed their duties post recovery.

Taking to Twitter, Delhi Police Commissioner S N Shrivastava expressed his condolences to the family of the deceased and assured all assistance.

"The sudden demise of late Constable Amit Kumar from PS Bharat Nagar has saddened the police fraternity. We stand by his family in this hour of grief and pray to the Almighty to provide strength to bear this loss. All assistance to his family will be provided," he tweeted.

The constable, a resident of Sonipat in Haryana, was posted at the Bharat Nagar Police Station in northwest Delhi, police said.

He lived with a colleague at a rented house in Gandhi Vihar area.

He was into crime data liasoning. Since the lockdown, such works were being carried out online so it didn't require him to come to the police station very often,
a senior police official said.

When he woke up on Monday morning, he complained of breathing problems. One of his colleagues said that he was given warm water and when his condition did not improve, he was taken to a hospital, a colleague said.

"But he was neither admitted, nor tested for Covid-19 as the hospital staff said they did not have Corona facility," alleged a colleague.

When he fell sick on Tuesday, he was examined at the Deep Chand Bandhu Hospital where he was given medicines and referred for Covid-19 testing facility in Ashok Vihar, police said.

After returning home, sometime later, he started feeling uneasy and his health condition deteriorated and vomited. Seeing his condition, his colleagues informed
Bharat Nagar station house officer who asked them to immediately take him to RML
Hospital, one of his colleagues said.

On Tuesday evening, when the constable reported that he was feeling uncomfortable, he was immediately taken to the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital where he was declared brought dead, the senior police official said.

The results from RML hospital regarding coronavirus testing is awaited, however, the result from the test facility in Ashok Vihar confirmed he had the infection, said the official, adding that all the police personnel who came in contact with the constable have been home-quarantined and asked to undergo testing for coronavirus.

The postmortem examination is yet to be conducted, the official added.

The constable is survived by his wife and a 3-year-old son, the official added.