Sangli: Containment zone set up after 24 of family test

With 24 members of a large family testing positive for coronavirus in Maharashtra's Sangli district in the last few days, the administration has set up a containment zone in one-km radius of where they live.

At least 325 persons, who were "non-close contacts" of this family, have been home-quarantined to ensure that the infection does not spread further, an official said.

The family lives in a cluster of houses in Islampur town in the district. Four of its members had returned from Saudi Arabia recently.

The district administration, however, maintained that there has been no 'community transmission' of the disease.

"All 24 are currently admitted to isolation facility in Sangli and are stable," said district collector Abhijeet Chaudhari.

Samples of 47 family members or relatives who were "close contacts" were sent for testing and 24 of them were found to have contracted the virus, he said.

"Though the remaining family members have tested negative, we have kept them under institutional quarantine," he added.

Further, 325 non-close contacts of the family have been traced and home quarantined for suspected exposure to the virus, Chaudhari said.

"There is no community transfer as exposure has taken place to only known contacts. But as a precautionary measure, we have created a containment zone in the radius of one km and health-screening of people is going on," he said.

Asked if there were any lapses in quarantining of four members of the family who returned from Saudi Arabia, the collector said when they landed at Mumbai airport on March 12, the practise of stamping the passengers suspected to have been exposed to the virus had not started.

"These four should have taken precaution by placing themselves under home quarantine," he said.

Further, the list of people arriving in Sangli from foreign countries which was shared with the district administration did not have the names of these four, he said.

"These four people were traced during our own screening drive on March 18," he said.