More on Covid-19

NEW DELHI: An Army doctor in Kolkata and a junior commissioned officer (JCO) in Dehradun tested positive for Covid-19 on Sunday, increasing the cases of confirmed coronavirus cases in the over 13-lakh force to three now.“Both the doctor, who is a Colonel posted at the Eastern Army Command hospital in Kolkata, and the JCO had travelled to Delhi in the second week of March before the lockdown ,” said an officer.The Army has conducted the “necessary contact tracing” of the two, quarantining the people they had come in contact with over the last couple of weeks. “The two themselves are in good health and stable at present,” said the officer.The doctor had apparently reached Delhi on leave on March 10 before returning to Kolkata on March 17. He developed Covid-19 symptoms a couple of days ago, with his test coming positive on Sunday. The JCO, too, tested positive at the military hospital in Dehradun on Sunday.The first confirmed coronavirus case in the Army was a 34-year-old soldier from the Ladakh Scouts at Leh, whose father had returned from a pilgrimage from Iran on an Air India flight on February 27. The case had led to a virtual lockdown of the Ladakh Scouts Regimental Centre there.The Army has banned all entry and exit from the Ladakh Scouts Regimental Centre at Leh, which houses over 500 personnel, as a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of the deadly virus, as was reported by TOI earlier.The Army, Navy and IAF, which together have around 15 lakh personnel, had earlier directed all formations and units to stop all non-essential mass gatherings like festivals, welfare activities and parties as well as travel to foreign countries. All non-essential courses and training programmes have also been cancelled in view of the coronavirus outbreak.