Nine more staff of Nanjangud pharma company test Covid-19 positive

BENGALURU: Nine new cases of Covid-19 were reported from Nanjangud near Mysuru which has turned out to be the biggest cluster in Karnataka. All nine patients are the employees of Jubilant Generics, a pharmaceutical company where Nanjangud's first and Mysuru's second case of Covid-19 was reported about three weeks ago.

Since then, nearly 50 people including about 30 employees of the pharmaceutical company and their primary and secondary contacts have been tested positive. The source of infection has continued to remain a mystery. The state health department is yet to ascertain how the first patient, who was working in the quality assurance division of the pharma company, contracted the virus. The first patient although has recovered, is under quarantine in a government isolation facility in Mysuru.

For the consecutive fourth day, Karnataka reported Covid-19 cases in double digits, indicating an upward trend where the number of cases have been on the rise. The state government confirmed 17 new cases on Wednesday, taking the tally to 277. The state also reported the death of a 65-year-old male patient from Chikkaballapura district. This is the fifth death to be reported in the last two days.