The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has been able to contact nine of the 10 persons from China, the United States, Germany and Japan who visited Nanjangud between February 4 and 18. However, none of them have shown any symptoms of COVID-19 and hence have not been tested so far.
As many as 80 contacts of Patient-52, an employee of a pharma company in Nanjangud, have contracted the novel coronavirus. How P-52 contracted the infection remains a mystery.
Primary and Secondary Education Minister S. Suresh Kumar on Saturday said unable to locate the source of the infection in Nanjangud, the State government had written to the MEA asking it to check with the embassies of the four countries about the condition of those who had visited Nanjangud.
“The ministry has replied to the Chief Secretary and said that they were able to contact all except one person from Germany. As none of those contacted have shown any symptoms, they have not been tested. But there has been evidence of asymptomatic people testing positive, and hence they might have been carriers even without symptoms,” the Minister said.
“The first patient from the pharma company developed symptoms on March 13 and tested positive on March 24. The company owner is not available for tests as he is in Delhi. We are trying to trace him there,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mysuru district has overtaken Bengaluru Urban in active COVID-19 cases. With 58 active cases, Mysuru has surpassed Bengaluru, where active cases stand at 44 with 42 patients discharged so far. The total number of positive cases reported from Mysuru is 80, while the number for Bengaluru Urban is 89. Most cases in Mysuru district have been from Nanjangud, a cluster, with 66 cases alone linked to the pharma company, Jubilant Generics Ltd.
In total, six positive cases were reported on Saturday, with five linked to the company. And the five cases are all secondary contacts of P-52. Eleven secondary contacts of P-52 tested positive on Friday.
