In a major escalation of the situation, ten cops in Madhya Pradesh (MP) have tested positive with COVID-19. Bhopal's Inspector General (IG) of Police Upendra Jain suspected it was possible that the cops contracted the virus while conducting a search to locate those who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat meeting in Delhi's Nizamuddin, reports Hindustan Times.

“There is a 99.99% chance that our policemen contracted the virus while conducting a search to locate those who attended the Tablighi Jamaat meeting in Delhi, in various mosques (in the city),” HT quoted him as saying.

Jain shared that the search operations were carried out mainly by the personnel from two police stations in Bhopal, namely Jahangirabad and Aishbagh. These searches led to tracing of as many as 32 Jamaats, which included 7 foreign Jamaats at various locations, with each of them comprising about 12 individuals.

From the Jamaats which were traced, as many as 12 had attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Nizamuddin Markaz. From these, at least 20 have already tested positive for COVID-19.

Meanwhile, it should be noted that five of the family members of the ten affected policemen have also subsequently tested positive for having contracted the virus. The other policemen who had come in contact with the ten have since been sent into self-quarantine.

Jain also shared that all the police stations in Bhopal are now being sanitised and that as many as 1,000 policemen will be staying in hotels practicing social distancing while they also perform their duties.