HYDERABAD: As many as 76,768 police personnel in India, including paramilitary forces such as CRPF, CISF, BSF and NSG tested COVID-19 positive while 401 succumbed to the killer virus till August 21, according to a report by the Bureau of Police Research and Development.

Telangana ranks second in COVID-19 deaths with 40 following Maharashtra with topped with 129 deaths, according to the report titled "Indian Police Response to COVID-19 Crisis" that has put out a list compiled till August 21.

Out of the over 75,000 positive cases, paramilitary forces accounted for 15,318 infections with Central Reserve Police Force leading the table with 5,467 cases and 24 deaths in the category, the report pointed out which was released last week.

On Telangana Police's efforts to combat the spread of the virus, the report said that it used social media, adding the city police extensively used multimedia platforms to curb misinformation, fake news and rumours.

A camera-based detection of mask violations was done at various locations in the city. The systems provided the heat map of violations to understand and assess the areas of non-compliances and initiate corrective measures. The city police used crowd analytics with CCTV footage to identify the public gatherings beyond permissible limits besides using Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system to check vehicles in violation and generate challans and seizure of the automobiles if required, the report said.

"Under a pioneering initiative of Rachakonda police in partnership with Tata Institute of social sciences, nearly 10,669 workers were interviewed personally and the requirements were assessed. Wherever interventions were required, they were provided with dry ration kits, medicines, health check ups specially to sick and pregnant women, water supply, rental issues with owners etc," the report read.