It is a nightmare that repeats over and over again for the 1350 prisoners of the Agra  Central Jail . Every day, they wake up dreading the tell-tale signs of  COVID-19 which may come knocking in their barracks any time.

After a prisoner from Jhansi was tested positive for the novel coronavirus at the S.N. Medical College, and his subsequent death, at least 10 more prisoners have tested positive for the virus, forcing the prison authorities to consider testing all the 1,350 prisoners and 112 jail staffers.

Samples of the 12 inmates had been collected after a 60-year-old prisoner tested positive on May 6, three days after he was rushed to S N Medical College following complaints of high blood pressure. The inmate, who had also suffered a brain stroke, had died last week.

On Sunday, the district administration had said that 12 inmates had tested positive for coronavirus. According to jail officials, two among these have a medical history. However, a retest found that only 10 of the 12 were positive for coronavirus, increasing the confusion.

To dispel the fears of the inmates who are scared to come out of their barracks, now the remaining prisoners and prison staffers will be subjected to pool testing.  Over 100 staffers will also be tested and till the test results arrive they have been asked not to leave the prison premises. Pool testing was not being conducted for the past eight days in Agra despite the orders by Chief minister Yogi Adityanath .

The jail authorities, however, are not clear how the deceased convict and the others got infected as the entry of outsiders were barred since mid-March. Jail staff claimed that entry of outsiders was barred on March 18 and around the same time meeting of inmates with their families was also suspended.

“We have put all the 12 inmates in institutional quarantine inside the jail. It is difficult to trace the main source of the virus. So we are considering to test all the prisoners and the staff members to ensure that the virus does not spread further,” Senior Superintendent of Agra Central Jail, V K Singh, said.

Jail officials have put 14 other inmates and 10 jail staffers in quarantine inside the jail. Samples of these 24 persons, including inmates and jail staff, were collected and sent for examination.

Meanwhile, an 85-year-old inmate died during treatment at a government hospital in Agra on Tuesday. Magroor Hussain, who was serving life imprisonment for murder since 2013, was rushed to a hospital after his condition deteriorated. His sample has been collected and sent for coronavirus test.

“Magroor Hussain was a patient of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). He was shifted to jail hospital on May 8 from the barrack where he was staying. On Tuesday morning, Magroor was sent to a hospital outside the jail after his condition deteriorated. During treatment, Magroor died,” said the Senior Superintendent of Agra Central Jail.