41 contacts of 7 medical shop assistants test positive for Covid-19 in Pune

PUNE: After seven employees of a wholesale medical shop at Sadashiv peth tested positive for Covid-19 (coronavirus) last week, 41 of their 89 contacts have tested

PUNE: After seven employees of a wholesale medical shop at Sadashiv peth tested positive for Covid-19 (coronavirus) last week, 41 of their 89 contacts have tested positive so far, Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) assistant medical officer Dr Vaishali Jadhav said.

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While the seven employees of the medical shop tested positive on May 16 (Saturday), so far, 89 swab samples of the persons they came in contact with have been tested. Pune city, which is part of a Covid-19 red zone district, has seen 199 deaths and 3,598 positive cases as of May 18.

“We have collected about 89 swab samples through contact tracing and 41 have tested positive and remaining negative. The contacts include the shop owners and his family members and the workers and their family members. The contacts have spread across areas. including Sadashiv peth, Bibwewadi, Yerawada, Hadapsar, Dhankawdi, Sinhgad road and Aundh too. As the contact tracing goes on we will find more people and more swab samples will be collected,” Dr Jadhav said.

Some of the positive cases are from the Aundh-Baner ward which had no active cases of Covid-19. The discovery of fresh cases could jeopardise the likelihood of a green zone status for this ward. A green zone is declared when no new case of Covid-19 are reported from an area for at least 14 days. The Aundh-Baner ward had reported four positive cases, all of whom had been discharged after being declared as cured.