HARIPUR: At least 22 policemen, including a DSP, were quarantined here on Tuesday, official sources said.

The sources said the policemen were quarantined for remaining in direct contact with the pilgrims going to Abbottabad and Mansehra districts while returning from Iran.

Police and health department sources said the quarantined policemen included a DSP, an SHO and ASIs, who escorted the buses carrying the returning pilgrims on the Hazara Motorway within in the limits of the Haripur district.

Since the policemen remained in direct contact with the pilgrims, the district administration and the health authorities had as a precautionary measure shifted all of them to the Government Girls Degree College, Tarnava, where a team of doctors examined them.

According to the police and health department sources, none of them carried symptoms of COVID-19. However, till proper screening the policemen would remain under observation. Their screening is expected on Wednesday.

A rapid response team of Khanpur tehsil headquarters hospital would conduct regular checks-up of all the quarantined suspects on a daily basis, and if any of them was found carrying symptoms of coronavirus he would be shifted to an isolation ward of type-D hospital in Dingi, the sources said.

Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2020