Virus hits army

New Delhi: The Indian Army has placed its soldiers, who came in contact with a 34-year-old trooper from Leh infected with coronavirus, in quarantine and under observation, defence sources said on Wednesday. The infected soldier from Ladakh Scouts Regiment, an infantry regiment of the Army known as the 'Snow Warriors', was found positive for COVID-19 and thereafter placed in an isolation ward at a hospital in Ladakh.

Now, the Ladakh Scouts Regimental Centre in Leh has been vacated and is being fully quarantined. It is a first positive case of coronavirus in the Indian Army. The soldier is currently admitted in the SNM hospital in Ladakh. It was found that the soldier's father had a travel history to Iran.

The soldier's father, who has also tested positive, is undergoing treatment at a Ladakh hospital. "His father was quarantined from February 29 at the Ladakh Heart Foundation and reported positive for COVID-19 on March 6 and was isolated at the local S.N.M. Hospital," said Army sources. The soldier was on casual leave from February 25 to March 1 and rejoined on March 2. Even though the soldier had rejoined from his leave but was helping his family during the quarantine period and was staying at his Chuchot village for some time as well. After his father tested positive, the soldier was quarantined on March 7 and detected to be positive on March 16. Thereafter he was isolated at the SNM Hospital. The soldier's sister, wife and two children are also quarantined at the SNM Hospital. Comparing the potential impact of the epidemic with the devastating flu outbreak of 1918, UK study team said that with no mitigating measures at all, the outbreak could have caused more than half a million deaths in Britain and 2.2 million in the United States.

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