New Delhi: A 35-year-old Border Security Force (BSF) jawan has succumbed to coronavirus. The total number of fatalities in BSF due to the pandemic rose to three, a senior official said Wednesday. This is the 14th coronavirus death among the paramilitary or the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs).
“Constable Vinod Kumar Prasad breathed his last June 9 at AIIMS in Delhi. He was deployed for law and order duty with the Delhi Police and admitted June 5 to AIIMS with weakness and cough,” a BSF spokesperson said.
Prasad’s COVID-19 test result came negative June 6 but his condition deteriorated two days later and he breathed his last on Tuesday at the AIIMS ICU. The jawan’s COVID-19 test result of June 8 was found positive, added the spokesperson.
Officials said Prasad did not have any comorbidity and was in ‘Shape-I’ category. ‘Shape-I’ in security forces signifies the top and best category of health. The officials said the jawan was the youngest to die among the CAPFs. All other fatalities were over 45 years, they said.
“The director general and all ranks of the BSF are grief-stricken over his untimely demise and offer condolences to his family members. The entire BSF family stands united with the bereaved family in these trying times,” the spokesperson said.
The about 2.5-lakh-personnel-strong force are tasked primarily with guarding Indian fronts with Pakistan and Bangladesh. They have so far reported a total of 535 coronavirus cases till now. Out of these, 435 have recovered.
With Prasad’s death, there have been 14 casualties among CAPFs. The tally is: Central Industrial Security Force (five), Central Reserve Police Force (four), Sashastra Seema Bal (one) and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (one).