MYSURU: Mysureans were relieved as a 35-year-old man (P-52), the first employee who tested positive for COVID-19 at a Nanjangud pharmaceutical company, was discharged on Friday. But coronavirus fear was back to haunt them as 10 new cases were reported from the pharma company in just 48 hours. The ‘cluster’ of Covid-19 cases with its epicentre as Jubilant Generics Ltd, the pharma company in Nanjangud, is growing and till date, 36 people related to the company, employees and primary contacts, have tested positive. But still, the district administration, health officials and police have been unable to trace the source of the infection.
On March 26, P-52 with no travel or contact history tested positive, puzzling the officials. It has been 18 days since the officials started the investigation, but they are unable to come out with a definitive report.
Though initially, the authorities pointed to the consignment imported from China as the possible source of infection, they backtracked, saying the investigation is still on and they are waiting for reports.
A senior police officer probing the case, on condition of anonymity, revealed that they are in the final stages of the investigation and have procured the CCTV footage, records of visitor details and material movement. “We served a notice to the company to get all the details and now we have been informed that several outsiders, including those from Goa and Australia, had visited the plant for auditing work,” he said.
The visit of foreigners, who could be carriers of the virus, has added a new angle to the investigation. When asked, Mysuru Superintendent of Police CB Ryshyanth said, “We are investigating the case from all angles. It will take a couple of days to come to a conclusion.”
A health official said that tests of the cargo surface, which was initially thought to be the source of contamination, has come negative and other samples have been sent for tests. Deputy Commissioner Abhiram G Sankar too said that the samples have been sent to the Institute of Virology in Pune.He said, “All primary and secondary contacts of pharma company employees are being tested. We have almost completed testing the primary contacts and started testing secondary contacts. Seven teams have been constituted for this.”As on Saturday, 3,506 people were under observation in Mysuru, of which 1,483 are under home isolation. A total of 781 samples have been tested till now, of which 734 were negative.