New Delhi: In what is the first set of Coronavirus cases in the Navy, around 20 sailors have tested positive in Mumbai, resulting in them being quarantined at a naval hospital in the city.

A massive operation has been launched to trace the people who might have come in contact with those infected.

The sailors were staying in the Navy’s residential accommodation facilities on board INS Angre, which is a shore-based depot that provides logistical and administrative support to naval operations of the Western Naval Command. They are now in quarantine at INHS Ashwini, a naval hospital in Mumbai.

The Navy, reportedly, is looking into the possibility of the men having moved around within the Navy’s various facilities for essential duties. They, however, were not moving around while on INS Angre due to the ongoing lockdown.

Also, it is not clear as of now if any other sailors or officers deployed on board the ship, too, have been infected.

Among the Army and the Air Force, the two other branches of the Indian Armed Forces, while the Army has recorded eight positive cases, as Army chief General MM Naravane revealed on Friday, the Air Force is yet to record any.

An Army Jawan from Ladakh, who was the first COVID-19 case in the armed forces, has now fully recovered and joined duty, the Army chief also said yesterday.

With over 3,000 cases Maharashtra, notably is the worst-hit state in the country. Mumbai, its capital, as well as the country’s financial capital, is the worst-hit city.