20 langar staffers at Nanded gurdwara test positive

Around 20 staffers, who worked with the community kitchen service at Gurdwara Langar Sahib at Nanded, have tested positive for Covid-19, district officials said.

Around 20 staffers, who worked with the community kitchen service at Gurdwara Langar Sahib at Nanded, have tested positive for Covid-19, district officials said.

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The spike in cases in Nanded has come at a time when the Punjab government has alleged negligence on part of the district authorities, after over 90 pilgrims who went back to the northern state from the district tested positive. Coronavirus cases in Nanded now stand at 26.

District authorities said around 97 gurdwara staffers were tested, of which 20 have contracted the disease. The gurdwara has been sealed off.

District health officer Balaji Shinde said that the staffers were involved in managing the langar or the community kitchen and a group of the staff was also in service to the over 90 pilgrims at the shrine who were sent to Punjab. “So far 20 people have tested positive. Test results of another 40-odd staffers are awaited. We have created a containment area there and have started massive contact tracing as per procedure,” he said.

An official from the district collector’s office said that two bus drivers and an attendant, for buses arranged by local authorities to take the pilgrims to Punjab, have also tested positive. “The two drivers and attendants had travelled to Punjab. Their swab samples also turned out to be positive. We have traced close contacts of the confirmed cases and put them under isolation at health facilities,” the official said.

On the claims by the Punjab government that the stranded pilgrims contracted the disease while in Maharashtra and the Nanded officials were negligent, district health officials said that the Sikh pilgrims were periodically checked. “We carried regular check-ups for all the pilgrims. None showed any symptoms such as cold or fever. Coronavirus test was not done on them. They could have contracted the disease on the way to Punjab,” said Shinde.