81 more inmates test positive for COVID-19 in Mumbai's Arthur Road jail

Earlier on May 9, as many as 77 prisoners and 26 staff members had tested positive the disease.

With fresh cases of infection, the total number of infected patients has risen to 185 (including jail staff).

The numbers are expected to rise dramatically in the coming days, officials had warned.

According to jail officials, quarantine facilities have been arranged inside the prison to accommodate those infected.

The first round of infection came to light after an undertrial prisoner, a 45-year-old man, had suffered a paralysis attack in the prison on May 2 and was rushed to J J Hospital for treatment.

Following which, state Home minister, Anil Deshmukh, had announced that all those who tested positive would be moved to G T Hospital and St George's Hospital in guarded vehicles on May 8 morning.

The members of the jail staff will be shifted out separately, he had said.

However, the infected prisoners were moved to quarantine centres set up at Mahul, one of the most polluted parts of Mumbai.

When the local residents opposed the move, the state government had to retreat and make special arrangements inside the prison.

A jail official claimed that the prisoners were moved back due to security concerns.

“Due to law and order issues and several other civic, medical and logistical issues related to the quarantine facility at Mahul, we have set up a special COVID-19 quarantine ward at circle no. 3 and circle no. 10 at Arthur Road jail,” an official confirmed.

He further said that a medical team of seven doctors and paramedics from J J Hospital visited the quarantine ward.

“They will be visiting these special quarantine wards on a daily basis,” he added.

Although Arthur Road Jail, like most other prisons in the state, had been under complete lockdown, members of allied staff have been moving in and out of the prison.

Prison authorities have said that essential services like milk, vegetables and groceries come in every day and it is difficult to keep the space completely under a lockdown.

“We also have sanitation workers visiting the prison on a regular basis. Even though the staff has not left the jail compound in over a month, it is difficult to keep the space completely locked,” a jail official said.