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Agartala, May 9 (IANS): A total of 30 more Border Security Force (BSF) troopers and their family members on Friday tested positive for Covid-19, taking the total number of infected among the para-military personnel and their kin in Tripura to 116, Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb said on Friday.
Deb, in a late night tweet, said that the fresh 30 positive cases were found in the BSF's 86th and 138th Battalions, which both have their headquarters in Ambassa, the district headquarters of Dhalai, 82 km north of Agartala.
The fresh cases also included four family members of the BSF personnel belonging to 138th Battalion and a truck driver.
The Chief Minister, who also holds the Health potfolio, in a separate Facebook post, said: "We are conducting a maximum number of Covid-19 tests to ensure better safety of every citizen of Tripura. Co-operate with the government. We are working round-the-clock for your safety."
According to health officials, though the two BSF battalion headquarters were located in the same place and close to the civilian localities and on the vital Assam-Agartala national highway (the lifeline of Tripura), no civilian had yet tested positive.
Most of the infected persons are now undergoing treatment at the Govind Ballabh Pant Medical College and Hospital, a dedicated Covid-19 hospital, here.
Additional Chief Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, Sanjay Kumar Rakesh told the media that the state government has requested the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to study the cause of the Covid-19 spread in the state. He said that from Dhalai district, 977 samples out of the 1,188 samples collected were tested so far and 891 of them found negative.
Though the total coronavirus cases in the state have reached 118, the state's first two cases - a woman and a Tripura State Rifles jawan, had recovered from the disease last month.