Chandigarh, Feb 2 (IANS): Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Tuesday launched the second phase of COVID-19 vaccination drive for frontline workers with Director General of Police (DGP) Dinkar Gupta volunteering to be the first one among the force to get the jab here.

Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Anurag Agarwal also got vaccinated along with top brass of the police.

Under the second phase of the ongoing vaccination drive in Punjab, 82,789 Punjab Police personnel are supposed to be inoculated with the vaccine.

Prior to the launch, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh was given the guard of honour.

Amarinder, while lauding the efforts of Punjab Police, said the entire force had worked day and night on the frontlines when the COVID-19 was at its peak. Besides maintaining law and order, the police also ensured home delivery of food, medicines and other essentials, during the curfew spanning over two months from March 22.

He said 6,153 police personnel were diagnosed positive for COVID-19 out of which 6,086 have successfully recovered while 15 are undergoing the treatment.

Unfortunately, 52 police personnel lost their lives to the virus, added the Chief Minister.