A total of 16 contacts who came directly in touch with a Covid-19 infected delivery person from South Delhi tested negative for coronavirus.
“We had identified 16 high-risk persons linked to the delivery person from Malviya Nagar and kept them under institutional quarantine. The test results of all the 16 persons, including the owner of the food joint where the delivery boy worked, have come negative,” said BM Mishra, district magistrate (south).
“Also, none of the 72 low-risk contacts to whom the infected person had delivered food over the past one month have shown any Covid-19 symptoms so far. But, they will continue to be under home quarantine and are being strictly monitored,” he said.
The 16 persons, who have tested negative, will have to continue to be under institutional quarantine in the government facility at Chhatarpur. They will be released only after they finish their quarantine period and once again test negative for Covid-19 at the end of their quarantine, Mishra said.
The delivery person, who tested positive on April 14, is being treated at the Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality hospital in Tahirpur.
According to the police, the delivery person was an employee of Box 8, and the pizza was from the kitchen of the adjoining restaurant MOJO Pizza, also located in the same building. Police said that apart from serving its own menu, Box 8 has a tie-up with multiple food chains.
Mishra said the delivery person was not feeling well for nearly a month and had visited several hospitals. “He had a cough but some hospitals had dismissed it as common flu. But when he didn’t recover, he went to Safdarjung hospital for a check-up from where he was referred to RML. He tested positive for Covid-19 on April 14,” he said.
In a statement on its official Twitter account on April 16, Box 8 had said: “After all precautions and vigilance, in an unfortunate turn of events, a delivery partner of our Malviya Nagar kitchen in south Delhi has tested COVID positive yesterday….The delivery partner has been keeping well and getting the required medical attention. All his co-workers have been quarantined and we have shut down the Malviya Nagar kitchen in South Delhi for the next 14 days.”
