A team of 26 personnel of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), stationed at Hooghly’s Arambagh in anticipation of floods, were isolated after two members tested Covid-19 positive on Thursday.

The district administration on Friday sought another pool of disaster management personnel on Friday in view of rising water level in the rivers.

Areas in Hooghly’s Arambagh, mainly Khanakul I and II and Pursura blocks, are prone to floods, with hundreds of villages going underwater almost every year as at least half a dozen major rivers and their 30 branches and connected canals overflow during monsoon. Damodar, Dwarakeshwar, Rupnarayan and Mundeshwari are among the major rivers that criss-cross Hooghly.

“This year, the NDRF team came in May to combat Amphan. But we have to confine the team after two members tested Covid positive. We are worried as the coming two weeks in July might flood the area,” said an official.

NDRF members have been sent to self-isolation after two personnel tested positive, another official said. “The infected duo were shifted to a Covid hospital. We asked others not to go out of the building till their quarantine period,” he said. As NDRF officials are housed in a flood relief centre adjoining the SDO’s office, the premises were sealed on Friday as well.

Arambagh SDO Nripendra Singh spoke to NDRF officials in Nadia’s Kalyani for another team. “I have spoken with NDRF officers and drafted a letter to requisition another team to tackle the flood situation here. Teams of the district’s disaster management cell are ready,” said SDO Singh.

A source said NDRF officials ruled out the possibility of another team, with many personnel deployed in other parts of the state and many others infected with Covid while engaged in post-Amphan rescue and rehabilitation work.

Representatives of the municipality, administration, police and traders’ associations in Arambagh met on Friday evening and decided to implement a strict seven-day lockdown from Monday to contain Covid infections.