NEW DELHI: In a major Covid-19 outbreak in the Indian Navy, at least 26 sailors have tested positive for the highly contagious coronavirus at a shore-based establishment in Mumbai, though no cases have been reported from sea-faring warships and submarines till now.The number of cases at INS Angre, the main shore-based logistics and administrative depot of the Western Naval Command in south Mumbai, is bound to rise with the force going in for “meticulous contact tracing as well as aggressive screening and testing of primary and secondary contacts” by roping in even private labs, said officers.This is the biggest coronavirus outbreak in the over 15-lakh strong armed forces till now. The much-larger Army has so far reported just 10 cases from different parts of the country, with a woman doctor at the Dehradun military hospital being the latest to test positive for Covid-19.“The woman officer, the third doctor to test positive in Army, had attended the MOJC (medical officers junior command) course at Lucknow last month. Her primary contacts in Dehradun have tested negative but all the 60 officers who attended the course are under watch,” said a source.Military personnel work and live close together, whether they are deployed along the borders or on board the cramped confines of warships and submarines. Covid-19 has already hit operations of several warships, including four US and one French nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, around the globe.The Indian Navy on Saturday said there were “no cases of infection on board any of its warships, submarines or air stations” and it was maintaining “full operational readiness” and conducting its patrolling and deployment missions on the high seas as usual.But in Mumbai, the worst-hit city in the country, the situation is grim at INS Angre, which is adjacent to the naval dockyard where several frontline warships and submarines are docked.The 26 sailors, who have been isolated at the naval hospital INHS Asvini, were all staying in one particular “in-living” block of the bachelors’ residential accommodation at INS Angre, which is now under a total lockdown.The outbreak – only six of the 26 are “symptomatic” – has been have traced to a single sailor who tested positive on April 7. “This sailor was in touch with a retired chief petty officer (a junior commissioned officer), who in turn was working as a janitor in the Navy Nagar area and had come in contact with a person with foreign travel history,” said an officer.“All primary contacts, even though asymptomatic, have been tested for Covid-19. Most of the results came on Friday. The entire in-living block has been disinfected and declared a containment zone, with buffer zones, to break the chain of transmission. More tests are underway,” he added.Navy chief Admiral Karambir Singh on April 9, incidentally, had stressed the need for his force to guard against outbreaks of the deadly coronavirus on board warships and submarines while continuing to maintain full operational readiness, as was reported by TOI.“We have to ensure our operational assets, warships and submarines, remain free from the virus…I know it’s a very difficult task because physical distancing on board warships, especially submarines, is a great challenge,” Admiral Singh had said in the video message to the rank and file of the 140-warship and 235-aircraft maritime force.Admiral Singh, who had warned the “danger is real, imminent and unprecedented”, had asked his force has to be prepared for the “worst-case scenario” in the days ahead.The Navy chief’s message came soon after four American 100,000-tonne aircraft carriers, USS Theodore Roosevelt , USS Ronald Reagan , USS Carl Vinson and USS Nimitz, as well as the French Navy's flagship Charles de Gaulle reported Covid-19 cases.The case of USS Theodore Roosevelt, in particular, created shock waves in military circles after it was forced to dock at Guam to evacuate most of its around 5,000 sailors, leaving only a skeletal crew on board to maintain its nuclear reactor and other critical operations.The skipper, Captain Brett Crozier , who himself has tested Covid-19 positive now, was relieved of command after his letter criticizing the Pentagon’s handling of the outbreak on board the mammoth warship became public.“We are not at war…sailors do not need to die,” he wrote. The controversy also led to acting US Navy secretary Thomas Modly’s resignation for mishandling the situation and mocking Capt Crozier.