A 32-year-old woman from Pune with a travel history to the Netherlands and France, and a 21-year-old youth who had visited he Philippines, Singapore and Sri Lanka, became the latest in the district to test positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday, taking the tally in Pune to 19 — the highest in the State.
With this case, Pune now has eight COVID-19 positive cases and Pimpri-Chinchwad has 11.
The Pune district administration has already issued advisories directing all IT companies and industrial units to permit their employees to work from home wherever possible.
The authorities have been enforcing all kinds of social distancing measures by shutting down schools and colleges, gyms, malls and museums, with hoteliers’ and traders’ associations each taking voluntary decisions to keep their establishments closed for three days to curb the spread of the virus.
The city’s iconic landmarks such as the Shaniwarwada and the Dagdusheth Halwai Ganapati Temple have been temporarily shut, while shops in the usually bustling old Pune have all downed their shutters.
The Pune Municipal Corporation has formed 125 teams, and the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation another 50, to conduct home surveillance across the twin cities, with nearly 16,000 houses being covered thus far.
Since January 18, as many as 900 people have been placed in isolation for displaying coronavirus-like symptoms. The samples of 779 of these have returned negative, while 42 have tested positive. The results of the others are awaited.
On March 9, a city-based couple who were part of a 40-member group tour to Dubai were the first in the State to test positive for COVID-19.
