Unable to get leads on how employees of a pharmaceutical company tested positive for COVID-19, the Health and Family Welfare Department has decided to test the packages that came from China as raw materials to the company.
Speaking at a press conference, Jawaid Akhtar, Additional Chief secretary of the department, said they are trying to trace the source of how the first patient may have contracted the virus. The department, however, did not give out more details. Four more employees from the company tested positive on Monday.
However, several doctors in the medical fraternity have criticised this move as the virus does not stay on substances for several days.
The first COVID-19 positive case from the company in Nanjangud town was reported on March 26 and nine others from the same company also tested positive subsequently. Patient number 52, a 35-year-old man, who was working in the quality assurance section of the company, was the first to test positive.
The Nanjangud case had generated a lot of importance in this crisis since the first patient had no travel and contact history unlike other cases reported in the State. This case had also raised doubts about “community transmission”, but was denied by the district administration.
Nanjangud town is now a “cluster case” with multiple positive cases reported and the workforce of the company is under observation. Stringent curbs has been enforced with no movement of vehicles into the town.
Also, it is being examined by the healthcare professionals on whether the persons who tested positive now had any direct contact with the first positive case. More than 1,000 company employees have been placed under home quarantine.
Deputy Commissioner Abhiram G. Sankar said the investigation on how the patient 52 was infected was still underway since the patient had no travel or contact history.
“We need more clarity on the Nanjangud case and doctors handling the cases are looking for evidence on the contagion. The samples of some of the staff members (even though they are not showing symptoms), who are currently in home quarantine, are being collected for the study. We are checking information on whether patient 52 had come in contact with an Australian national or had visited Thailand,” said Mr. Sankar.
Eight new cases
Eight new positive COVID-19 cases have been detected in Karnataka, taking the figures to 91.
Four of the cases are primary contacts of the employee of the pharmaceutical company in Nanjangud, Mysuru, who tested positive earlier this month. All of them are employees of the same company. They have been isolated at a designated hospital in Mysuru.
Another is a 13-year-old male, a resident of Tumakuru and son of patient number 69. Three members of a family in Hospet in Ballari tested positive and did not have any foreign travel history.
