Cops at 'Matoshree' to be tested for coronavirus infection

After the owner of a tea stall located near CM Uddhav Thackeray's private residence 'Matoshree', tested COVID-19 positive, all the police personnel deployed at CM's residence will be tested for coronavirus infection.

Mumbai (Maharashtra): Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh on Tuesday said that police personnel deployed at Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's private residence 'Matoshree' in suburban Bandra will be tested for coronavirus infection, a day after the owner of a tea stall near the bungalow tested positive.

Police personnel deployed at the bungalow will be quarantined and replaced as a precautionary measure, Deshmukh said.

"The policemen may have consumed tea from the stall. We will screen them and other staffers who were deployed there," he said.

"We will quarantine them to contain the spread, in case they (the security personnel) have been infected," the home minister said.

The tea vendor was admitted in Jogeshwari-based HBT hospital for COVID-19.

However, it is not yet clear how the vendor, who stays inside his small shop, contracted the infection.

After the case was reported, civic officials on Monday sprayed disinfectants in the area.

Meanwhile, Deshmukh also lambasted people who flout the lockdown norms and step out of their homes for "frivolous" reasons, and warned strict action.

"We are keeping vigil. We have issued orders to seize vehicles and 4,000 vehicles have been seized till Monday," he said.

The home minister also asked people living in containment zones not to panic and cooperate with the state government by not stepping out of their homes.

(PTI report)