LAHORE: More than 30 police personnel in Punjab have tested positive for COVID-19, a respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus, while six are awaiting their test results, police authorities confirmed on Saturday while talking to Arab News.

“We recently tested 100 police employees, ranging from constables to inspectors, in all districts of the province and 33 were diagnosed with COVID-19. We are also suspecting that six more of our colleagues may have contracted the virus. The highest number of patients were found in Lahore where 10 policemen were diagnosed with the disease,” Additional Inspector General (AIG) Operations Inam Ghani said.

He added that his department was prepared to face the outbreak since it had deployed its Special Protection Unit with Chinese workers focusing on projects related to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

“The Chinese authorities also helped us with precautionary measures since we were providing security to their workers. As soon as the disease emerged in their country, the Chinese in Pakistan took safety measures and also assisted us with them,” said Ghani.

COVID-19 has affected 3.35 million people across the world and resulted in 239,000 deaths. In Pakistan, more than 18,000 people have tested positive for the disease since February 26 when the country reported its first coronavirus case.

Punjab, the most densely populated province of Pakistan, reported 514 new cases on Saturday, taking its overall tally to 6,854. Lahore, the cultural capital of the country, tops the list with 2,154 confirmed cases of the disease.

Given the huge spike in numbers, authorities have sealed several areas of the city where these cases emerged in large numbers and started multiplying. Raiwind City was the first locality that faced a complete shutdown, but now 13 other neighborhoods, including certain posh areas in Defense and Bahria Town, have also been shut down.

The first victim of COVID-19 in Punjab Police was the station house officer of Raiwind City, forcing the department to conduct random tests among its employees.

Most members of law enforcing agencies, particularly police personnel, face the danger of contracting the disease since they are deployed in infected areas and come across possible virus careers at check posts.

Other police employees are also considered to be facing high-risk situations since their job requires extensive public dealing, making them interact with hundreds of people on a daily basis.

However, senior police officials claim they have taken necessary security measures to ensure the smooth working of their department.

“We are on roads and troubled areas to protect lives and control the spread of the disease,” Superintendent Police Jameel Zafar told Arab News. “The CPO office has given 15,000 bottles of sanitizers, 50,000 hand gloves, 40,000 face masks and 500 glasses to the force. We also have Personal Protective Equipment which not only caters to the needs of the operations wing but also the investigation unit and the SPU.”

He added that the force was “in high morale.”