BSF jawan succumbs to COVID-19; 14th death in CAPFs

A BSF constable died of coronavirus on June 9 at the AIIMS in Delhi taking the number of fatalities in Central Armed Police Forces to fourteen. Five have died in the CISF, four in the CRPF and one each in the SSB and ITBP.

New Delhi: A 35-year-old BSF jawan has succumbed to the coronavirus, taking the number of fatalities in the force from the pandemic to three.

This is the 14th COVID-19 death in the paramilitary or Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs).

"Constable Vinod Kumar Prasad breathed his last on June 9 at the AIIMS in Delhi. He was deployed on law-and-order duty with the Delhi Police and admitted to the AIIMS on June 5 with weakness and cough," a Border Security Force (BSF) spokesperson said.

Prasad's COVID-19 test results came negative on June 6, but his condition deteriorated on June 8 and he breathed his last on Tuesday at the AIIMS ICU, he added. His COVID-19 test results of June 8 were found positive, the spokesperson said.

The about 2.5-lakh-personnel-strong force has had a total of 535 coronavirus cases till now, of which 435 have recovered.

It is to be noted that this was the 14th death in the CAPFs due to COVID-19, including five in the CISF, four in the CRPF and one each in the SSB and ITBP.

(PTI Report)