Mystery over Nanjangud coronavirus case deepens

The mystery over the curious case of Nanjangud in Mysuru district further deepened on Thursday with Noida-based Jubilant Life Sciences Limited— the promoters of Nanjangud’s Jubilant Generics clarifying that it neither had any of its employees travelled abroad in the last six months nor did the raw material samples from the plant test positive for COVID-19.

Following the company’s clarification, the district administration and the health department are now under the spotlight to reveal the actual cause of the origin of infection that manifested in the form of Patient 52.

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For over 25 days, the Mysuru district administration had failed to ascertain the actual source of infection in Nanjangud case after it became the epicentre of COVID-19 cluster in Mysuru district. Following several queries by the media and political leaders, the district administration officials repeatedly maintained that the consignment received from China may have had the presence of virus on the cardboards infecting the workers at the plant.

However, the company, in its statement, said, “It is unfortunate that a wrong perception was created in public and media about the raw material imported from China.”

Adding further, the company said, “Patient 52 did not travel to China or on any overseas trip in the last six months. None of the employees tested positive so far travelled overseas in the last six months.”

In its reply to the district administration’s possible explanation, the company stated, “All evidence and known scientific facts published by reputed global organisations, available so far, indicate that the virus does not survive for more than 72 hours on any surface. The raw material sampled from Nanjangud facility had taken more than three weeks of transit to reach Nanjangud by sea route and no virus can survive this long on any surface.”

The company spokespersons have also clarified that P-52, the first positive case at the Nanjangud plant, never had any contact with any of the raw materials nor had any role in receiving, transporting, handling or storage of raw materials. The patient, being the source of about 49 Covid-19 positive cases in Karnataka, was indeed seen as a competitor to those who had the travel history to Tablighi Jamaat congregation in New Delhi.