Gurugram, Sep 2 (IANS): At least as 33 inmates of Bhondsi jail have tested positive for Covid-19, officials said on Wednesday.

"We have tested 180 inmates. While 15 of them tested positive on Tuesday, another 18 inmates were found positive on Wednesday," officials said.

Apart from the cases in Bhondsi jail, 18 commandos of the National Security Guard (NSG) have also tested positive for Covid-19 on the NSG campus in Manesar.

The health department had tested 44 suspects, of which 18 commandos were found to be positive for the disease.

Chief Medical Officer of Gurugram, Virender Yadav, while confirming the cases in Bhondsi jail and NSG campus, said that a team from the health department is collecting more samples from both the places.

"Contact tracing of those found infected is being done. With the detection of these cases at both the locations, a team of health department camped inside at both the locations for the contact tracing of the infected persons to check the possibility of further spread of the virus," said Yadav.

The Bhondsi jail currently has more than 2,000 inmates. The jail authorities claimed that as per the protocol followed at the district jail, all new prisoners are being kept in the other cordon to avoid their contact with the other inmates.

Despite several corona prevention measures already in place, it is not yet clear how these prisoners got infected.

Earlier in April, a warden at Bhondsi jail had tested positive for Covid-19.

"To prevent contamination, the jail premises and all the barracks are regularly sanitised by the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) and the medical teams," Yadav said.

As on Wednesday, Gurugram has reported a total of 12,297 Covid-19 cases of which 1,145 are active, while 133 persons have succumbed to the disease so far.

In the past 24 hours, the district reported 184 new cases.