NEW DELHI: Amid COVID19 outbreak, another major problem which has reared its head is of unidentified bodies that are making cops, involved in such duties, more vulnerable. According to senior officers, police personnel have been directed to take neces- sary measures while handling corpses.According to a police offi-cer, three unidentified bodies were found on Wednesday in North Delhi which were sent to the mortuary. "In such cases, we have told our personnel to dispose of hand gloves, takebath, wash clothes after send-ing the body to the mortuary," an officer said. Another officer mentioned:"We dont know whether the unidentified body, which weare dealing with, was affected by COVID-19 or not. We keepmotivating each ther by telling that it is social work. If we willnot do it, then who will," the officer said, adding that they take all possible steps to idetify bodies. Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Monika Bharadwaj said there are designated vehicles in which bodies are sent to the hospital. "I have asked my staff to take proper precautions, wear masks, handgloves. They have been told not to come in direct contact withthe body and handle the corpse in such a way that body parts are not in contact," she said. Meanwhile, the Railways unit of the Delhi Police has also sensitised their staff regardingthe situation. Deputy Com- missioner of Police (Railways) Harendra Singh said after passenger trains were stopped, the movement of people on the tracks has been curtailed andhence bodies cannot be found, fortunately. "But we have got our personnel trained on how to handle such kind of a personor a body which might be a suspected case. We have sensitisedall our staff about precautions to be taken during COVID-19. Apart from that, in each police station five to six police person- nel have been trained to handle COVID-19 cases," he said. Meanwhile, personnel from the Railway Protection Force (RPF) are reaching out to the people living in clusters situated near railway tracks and sensitising them about COVID-19 and precautions to be taken against the virus. "We have increased our patrolling on tracks so that such residents do not cross them. Goods trains carrying essential commodities are regularly running and safety is being ensured," said A N Jha, Senior Divisional Security Commissioner (RPF) According to the Delhi Police data, in 2016, as many as 432 bodies were found whereas in 2017-345 bodiesfound across the railway tracks in Delhi. In 2018, the Delhi Police recovered 416 bodies whereas last year (till August 15) as many as 271 bodies were found.

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