Karnataka: 28-Year-Old Pregnant PSI Among 41 Cops Who Died Of COVID-19 Amid Second Wave

Amid the second wave of pandemic, 41 police personnel in Karnataka have succumbed to COVID-19 between April 1 and May 13. According to official data, 13 deaths were reported in Bengaluru alone.

The latest among those who succumbed to the pandemic includes a 28-year-old police sub-inspector, who was seven months pregnant.

The Superintendent of Police, Dakshina Kannada, Rishikesh Sonwane, informed that police sub-inspector Shamili was undergoing treatment at the RM Jalappa Hospital, Kolar, where she breathed her last, reported The Indian Express.

Sonwane added that she was not vaccinated as she was pregnant.

The Director-General of Police Praveen Sood mourned the loss of PSI Shamili through his Twitter handle. Last year, when the first wave of COVID hit the country, 103 police officials died due to the infection and 9,600 were infected with the virus.

In the past 48 days, 4,203 police personnel have tested positive for COVID. Out of these, 1,508 are still active cases.

A senior officer said that considering the police as the frontline workers, the government has ensured that the entire police department would be vaccinated so that the cases and the deaths are less compared to last year. However, as per the data released by the police department, out of 87,917 police officials in Karnataka, only 84,924 have received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while 72,648 police personnel have received the second shot of the vaccine.