At least 36 people linked to Mysuru pharma cluster test positive for coronavirus

Mysuru police said that Japanese and Australian nationals visited the facility in Nanjangud in February and are probing if they were carriers of the coronavirus.

Coronavirus Coronavirus

Karnataka has overall reported 214 cases of novel coronavirus as on the afternoon of April 11 and 45 of those cases are from Mysuru district. However, at least 36 out of the 45 of the COVID-19 cases in Mysuru are linked directly or indirectly to the cluster involving employees of the pharmaceutical company Jubilant Generics.

The increasing number of cases has put the Mysuru district administration under immense pressure to quickly probe the source of the infection as none of the employees had a history of travel abroad. Speaking to TNM, Mysuru Superintendent of Police CB Rishyant, said that a notice has been issued to Jubiliant’s management, seeking information related to the investigation.

He also said that foreign nationals had visited the facility in Nanjangud in February in addition to a consignment, which the company received from China via Chennai.

“They (company) have not cooperated with the investigation. We have issued a notice to them. If they do not respond, we will make arrests. Japanese and Australian nationals had visited the company in February when there was no travel ban,” SP Rishyant said.

On March 26, patient 52, a 35-year-old employee who works in the quality assurance division of the company, tested positive for novel coronavirus.

Soon after, several of the man’s colleagues tested positive in the subsequent days. However, since the beginning of April, contacts of the employees also tested positive, resulting in a worrying situation.

“Patient number 52 was the one who received the consignment. It weighed around 3 tonnes and had arrived in an air conditioned container from China. The shipment reached Chennai after which it was brought to Nanjangud,” SP Rishyant added.

The consignment that was received by patient 52. Picture by Mysuru police

According to officials with the Mysuru district administration, the suspicion is that patient 52, who received the consignment, could have gotten infected due to the consignment.

On March 27, officials with the Mysuru district administration visited Jubilant Generics’ plant in Nanjangud and took swab samples from the packages that were received by patient 52. However, they say that the test results have not yet come out.

“The studies conducted so far suggest that the virus cannot last on the surface for more than three hours. We have sent samples to the National Institute of Virology in Pune and are awaiting results. We also suspect that the foreign national, who had visited the premises in February could have been carriers,” an official with the district administration said.

So far, the police have collected the CCTV footage and also the company’s visitor log book to identify how many people visited the facility prior to the travel ban.