5 new cases of coronavirus in Pune, number rises to 15 in city

Four are first contacts or family members of the group of 40 people who came back from Dubai earlier this month. The fifth case is a 21-year-old man who has a history of travelling to Thailand.

Five more people tested positive for coronavirus in Pune late on Saturday in the first instance of local transmission and taking the number of Covid-19 cases to 15 in the Maharashtra city so far, officials said.

These five positive cases, including three women and two men, were reported from the Pimpri-Chinchwad area, according to officials.

Four are first contacts or family members of the group of 40 people who came back from Dubai earlier this month. The fifth case is a 21-year-old man who has a history of travelling to Thailand.

The couple which tested positive on March 9 was the first recorded case of coronavirus in the city. They were part of a group of 40 people.

Naval Kishore Ram, Pune’s district collector, said this was the initial stage of local transmission since the people who had the virus are now transmitting it to those they have come in contact with inside the city.

“The family members of the Dubai returned group is infected so this is the initial stage of local transmission. The person who returned from Thailand was part of a 70 member group and so we are tracking all those people,” Ram said.

“Also, we will now aggressively start working on mission mode. The plan is in place but now a clear structure will be designed as to who is responsible for what purpose,” he added.

The administration will also seek help from the police with increasing cases of quarantined people fleeing from hospitals, he said.