As many as 20 soldiers are among the 24 people who have tested positive for the novel coronavirus at the oncology department of the army’s premier Research and Referral Hospital in Delhi, sources in the army headquarters said on Tuesday.

This is the second major Covid-19 outbreak among India’s 15-lakh-strong armed forces after 26 sailors at a shore-based Western Naval depot in Mumbai tested positive last month.

Eighty serving personnel from the tri-services of the armed forces, along with 20 veterans and family members of soldiers are currently admitted as Covid patients in different military hospitals across the country.

“All the (24) positive cases are from the oncology department of the (Research and Referral Hospital) and none of them are hospital staff. It is suspected that a patient who had been admitted for follow-up treatment and had been asymptomatic on arrival infected the others,” an official said.

Other than 20 serving soldiers, a veteran and three dependents of military personnel have tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

“All the infected persons have been moved to the army’s base hospital at Delhi cantonment, which is a dedicated facility for coronavirus patients,” the official said.

Last month, 14 personnel, including two army doctors, had tested positive for the virus.

The navy on Tuesday quarantined 160 officers and sailors at its logistics base in Calcutta — the INS Netaji Subhash — after two sailors developed symptoms of Covid-19. “Their test results are awaited,” a navy official said.