Suspected coronavirus-hit drug plant shut in Karnataka

The drug-making plant of pharma major Jubilant Life Sciences at Nanjangud near Mysuru has been shut down after it was suspected to have been contaminated by coronavirus from a container that came from China with raw materials, an official said on Tuesday.

"We have ordered closure of the plant and sealing of the entire premises after some of its employees tested Covid-19 positive after a container came from China in March," Mysuru deputy commissioner Abhiram G. Sankar told reporters here.

Nanjangud is about 30 km from Mysuru and 180 km southwest of Bengaluru in the southern state.

"We have also quarantined the plant's staff and their families at their homes in the town while the affected patients are under treatment at a designated hospital in Mysuru," Sankar said.

In an e-mail to IANS, the Noida-based pharma company said the plant operations were suspended last week and all its personnel were under self-quarantine.

"The container has been sent for forensic test to find if its surface material carried the virus as it was shipped from Covid-hit China from where the company imports applied pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for making drugs," Sankar added.