• 10 teams of Health officials, Police scout to identify the source of virus.
• Mosambayanahalli village in Varuna sealed following one positive case.

Mysore/Mysuru: How did the person from Nanjangud-based Jubilant Life Sciences (Jubilant Generics), now identified as Patient 52 (P52), contract the killer Coronavirus or COVID-19? 

If the virus has not come from the China container that was imported by Jubilant (as certified by Pune-based National Institute of Virology), how did P52 come in contact with the virus? 

Did P52’s employer come into contact with a Chinese person and is he the primary carrier for the virus? Who then is Patient Zero? Who are his/her contacts? 

Though the Mysuru District Administration is breaking its head on the above questions, the answer seems elusive. In its efforts to trace the origin of the virus and its first contact in Mysuru, the District Administration has formed several teams comprising Police and Health Department officials who are still on the job but has seen little success.   

Police and Health Department sources told Star of Mysore that over 10 teams are involved in tracing the Patient Zero and his contacts. Over 80 to 90 persons, P52’s friends and relatives have been probed and their Call Detail Records (CDR) have been scanned so far but there has been no results. The discovery that P52 has not travelled to China (as presumed earlier) and the revelation that P52 does not even have a passport has complicated things further. 

Mosambayanahalli sealed

Added to the mess is the Severe Acute Respiratory Infections (SARI) case (P-369) from Mosambayanahalli village of Mysuru taluk who has tested positive for COVID-19 yesterday. The Police have sealed down Mosambayanahalli in Varuna Assembly Constituency and sources said that efforts were on to trace and quarantine the contacts of P-369. 

No passport, no China travel

Meanwhile, Star of Mysore contacted P52 over phone this morning where he said that he does not know from where he contacted the virus. “I have already given my statements to the Police and District Administration. Doctors have advised me to take complete bed rest as I am in quarantine. I have nothing to say and my company will clarify,” he said. 

When probed further, P52, who has been kept under quarantine at a facility in Mysuru, said that he does not have a passport so the question of him travelling to China does not arise. His work is in the documentation section and he does not have any exposure to consignments imported from China, he said before disconnecting the SOM phone call. 

Blamed for no fault

P52, however, in an interview with an online news portal and a television channel, had stated that he has been branded as the one responsible for the spread of the virus in the company and victimised. The stigma he has suffered has been too much to handle, he said. 

“I go to work every day in the office pick-up vehicle. I have never gone abroad. I do not drink or smoke or go to parties. I have a three-year-old son and a wife for whom I come back home. If I knew how I got it, I would have told the officials what I knew. I have no reason to lie,” P52 told the news portal. 

P52 said that he worked as an Assistant Officer in the documentation section of the Quality Assurance Department of Jubilant. His job involves only checking paperwork and all consignments are received by the store department.

Attended house-warming ceremony 

He said that on Mar. 13 (Friday) he fell ill while he was working at his office and after coming home, he consulted his family physician who gave him some medicines. The next two days were Saturday and Sunday and on Mar. 16, he went back to work and returned home without any signs of fever. On Mar. 17, though he was unwell, he attended a friend’s house-warming ceremony in Mysuru with four other colleagues. 

On Mar. 19 he went again to the family physician who did a blood test and the next day he went to a hospital where his chest X-ray was taken and he was admitted to that hospital. On Mar. 22, another X-ray was done and the next day (Mar. 23), the doctors diagnosed the illness as pneumonia and took a swab sample. Later he was told that it could be COVID-19 and on Mar. 26, it was confirmed to him that he had COVID-19 and was taken to the designated COVID-19 ward at K.R. Hospital.

Under quarantine

P52 has been cured of the disease now and he has been advised to be under quarantine and observation. His 27-year-old wife and his father-in-law also tested positive. Now they too have been discharged after their test results proved negative. “I have read many news articles and have seen many TV shows that have blamed me for spreading the disease. I honestly don’t know how I got it,” he told the news portal.