MYSURU: Doctors and officials of Mysuru district are perplexed by unexplainable COVID-19 infection of 12 employees of a pharmaceutical company in Nanjangud.Of these 12 workers of Jubilant Generics Ltd, two tested positive on Tuesday, days after Patient 52, a 35-year-old man with no history of foreign
travel or contact history, was confirmed COVID-positive first.
The government on Saturday declared Nanjangud a ‘disease cluster town’ and shut it down.Initially, authorities said that P52 had only seven primary contacts, who were isolated. But five others had no official or social contact with P52. Surprisingly none of his family members and friends have tested positive.Though the official line is that all 12 cases at the company are linked to P52, a senior health official, on condition of anonymity, told The New Indian Express that at least five Covid-19 patients denied any interaction with the first patient. “The case has become a headache for all of us,” the official said.
The case is puzzling as the World Health Organization states that people can contract Covid-19 when their mouth, nose, and eyes are exposed to respiratory droplets emitted when an infected person coughs or sneezes. It can also be transmitted by indirect contact with surfaces exposed to or objects used on an infected person.
Jubilant Generics, engaged in production and research of drugs and active pharmaceutical ingredients (API), has received consignments from COVID-affected countries, including China. Mysuru Deputy Commissioner Abhiram G Shankar said that they are investigating whether the first patient was infected by one such contaminated consignment.
Sources told TNIE that the company’s premises were sanitised after the first and subsequent cases. But the further spread of the virus has raised questions over the company’s safety protocols.