First cluster COVID-19 outbreak in Karnataka, thousands quarantined

Thousands of employees of a pharma company have been put under home quarantine as Karnataka becomes the second state to report cluster outbreak of COVID-19.

Bengaluru: About 1,458 employees of Jubilant Life Sciences' Nanjangud plant in Mysore have been placed under home quarantine as 15 employees of the company and nine of their close contacts tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, an official said.

On March 26 the first case from the plant was reported when an employee tested positive for coronavirus, he didn't have any travel history abroad nor was he a primary or secondary contact of a COVID-19 patient.

According to the health department bulletin, after testing positive on March 26, seven of his primary contacts were traced and placed under home quarantine.

Subsequently, on March 29, five other employees of Jubilant Life Sciences tested positive. Four others tested positive on March 30. The company has since then temporarily suspended all operations at its plant.

In a statement put out by the pharma company, it acknowledged that many of its employees had contracted the infection and all necessary precautionary measures, as well as sanitisation of the entire plant area, was being carried out.

According to sources, in the month of March, a few foreigners and visitors from Maharashtra had come to the factory facility. Besides, a raw material container from China also arrived at the factory. The health officials are involved in contact tracing as Karnataka becomes the second hotspot state to report coronavirus cluster outbreak in India.

The state so far has recorded 175 coronavirus positive cases with four fatalities.