26 Navy personnel in Western Command test positive for coronavirus

New Delhi: At least 26 Indian Navy personnel have tested positive for coronavirus at the strategically-located Western Naval Command in Mumbai, in the first case of a major outbreak of the deadly infection in the armed forces.

All the infected sailors were serving at the INS Angre, a shore-based logistics and support establishment, and they are currently undergoing treatment at a Navy hospital, official sources said.

The number of infected sailors is 26, military sources confirmed. However, in a statement in the morning, the Navy has put the number of infected sailors at 21. The difference in the number could not be reconciled immediately.

The Navy has launched a large-scale contact tracing operation to track people who may have come in contact with the sailors. Almost all the residents of the residential building inside INS Angre are being tested, the sources said.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and top military brass were briefed about the outbreak and they are keeping a close eye on the situation.

The Western Naval Command is considered a strategic establishment as it takes care of India's maritime interests in the the Arabian Sea as well as parts of the Indian Ocean. The Naval dockyard in Mumbai is only few hundred metres away from INS Angre.

"We are taking all possible steps," a Navy official said without elaborating when asked about the measures being taken to check the spread of the infection following the outbreak which comes at a time when a number of navies globally are grappling with the pandemic.

Over 660 sailors onboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt, an aircraft carrier of the US Navy, reported coronavirus infection. A third of the nearly 2,000 sailors onboard French Navy's aircraft carrier Charles-de-Gaulle and its support ships also infected the virus.

The sources said 25 of the infected personnel were staying at a building having single-room accommodation and barracks within INS Angre complex while one sailor was living with his mother in his own house.

The sailor's mother also tested positive, the sources said.

The Navy is carrying out virus testing of all people staying in the residential accommodation which has been declared as a "containment zone". The INS Angre was put under total lockdown as per the prescribed protocol of apex medical research body ICMR, they said.

"Most of the (cases) are asymptomatic and have been traced to a single sailor who was tested positive on April 7. They all reside in the same accommodation block at INS Angre," the Navy said.

The sources said the Navy has ordered all its establishments to maintain highest precaution to protect the personnel from the virus infection.

It is the first case of a sizeable number of military personnel being treated for COVID-19. The Indian Army has reported eight cases of the deadly virus so far.

Last week, Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh, in a video message, told his personnel that vital operational assets such as ships and submarines must remain free from the virus.

"The coronavirus pandemic is unprecedented and it has never been seen before. Its impact has been extraordinary across the globe, including India," he said.

The danger posed by this disease is real, imminent and unprecedented, he noted.