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    As ten employees of Mysuru's pharma company test positive for Covid-19, source of virus remains a mystery

    Synopsis

    The man was diagnosed with symptoms last week and was confirmed of Covid-19 on March 26. Since then, nine of his colleagues have been tested positive, prompting the Mysuru district administration to declare it as a “cluster case.” This is the only cluster case to be reported from Karnataka.

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    The person contracting the disease without a travel history or known contact history has baffled the government.
    Bengaluru: Four more employees of the pharmaceutical company in Nanjangud near Mysuru were tested positive for Covid-19 on Sunday, taking the total number of confirmed cases in the factory to 10. But how the first patient, a 35-year-old man who worked in the quality assurance department of the pharma company, contracted the virus remains a mystery.

    The man was diagnosed with symptoms last week and was confirmed of Covid-19 on March 26. Since then, nine of his colleagues have been tested positive, prompting the Mysuru district administration to declare it as a “cluster case.” This is the only cluster case to be reported from Karnataka.

    The person contracting the disease without a travel history or known contact history has baffled the government. On Monday, health officials asserted that the person had no contact history at all, and they are now exploring all possibilities.

    Karnataka Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Jawaid Akhtar said the health team has collected surface samples of some of the packages from China that were delivered to the pharmaceutical company. “We do not know if the virus has come from China. We want to look at all angles. Samples have been sent to the National Institute of Virology and we are waiting for the report,” Akhtar said.

    When asked if the virus could last long on surfaces and how testing the package would benefit, he said “many aspects of the virus are not known yet. Let us see.”


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