First cop to get infected in Jaipur’s Covid-19 hotspot tests negative, raring to get back to work

Twenty-eight-year-old Ram Charan Soran was the first policeman in Rajasthan’s Jaipur to get infected with Sars-CoV-2 that causes the coronavirus disease (Covid-19). Soran has now tested negative for Covid-19 and is raring to go back to work – in the Covid-19 hotspot of Ramganj from where he got infected.

The police constable is posted in Manak Chowk police station, one of the first police stations in Jaipur to go under curfew on March 24. He tested positive for the virus on April 10 and was admitted to SMS Hospital’s ward No. 4F.

After two negative reports, Soran has now been taken to a quarantine centre on MI Road from. He will be discharged on May 7.

“I want to return to work,” he said.

Is he not scared of going back to work in Ramganj, which is Rajasthan’s biggest hotspot?

“Darr thodi jayenge, sir. Duty to karenge hi (I will perform my duty without fear),” he said. “If the family says anything, I will explain to them that duty is duty in whichever area we have to perform it.”

Ramganj neighbourhood of Jaipur has reported 598 out of 924 cases in Jaipur (as on May 2; the area-wise break-up of cases after May 2 is unavailable). Soran visited the area with medical teams and those distributing food packets. He was also on picket duty on some days.

“Half of Ramganj is under the jurisdiction of my thana (Manak Chowk). We went there several times for work,” he said.

Soran reported mild fever on April 6. It went away without medicine. On April 8, when a medical team came to Moti Ka Katla government dispensary, he went for voluntarily Covid-19 testing.

“Some of us went for voluntary testing because we were working in a hotspot area. The report came on April 10. The SHO called me around 7 am to tell me that I had tested positive. It was a shock but then I reconciled myself – ab ho gaya to jo hoga dekha jayega (now that I’m infected, whatever has to happen, will happen),” said the man who got into Rajasthan Police in 2018.

Soran stayed in a barrack on the first floor of the police station. Fifteen other policemen in the barrack were also tested; one of them had the infection. His report came on April 17. He has also tested negative and had been moved to the quarantine centre with Soran on April 23.

Ramganj continues to be under curfew and most of Jaipur cases are getting reported from this neighbourhood. Four policemen on duty in the Jaipur’s walled city areas got infected; three of them, including Soran, have tested negative now. Twenty-eight police station areas in Jaipur are under curfew.