Murthal coronavirus: Amrik Sukhdev dhaba is a popular roadside restaurant near Delhi (file)
New Delhi:
At least 10,000 people visited two popular roadside restaurants in Haryana’s Murthal that have now been sealed after 75 employees were found to be infected with coronavirus, authorities said.
Massive contact tracing work is underway to identify potential infected people, but finding them is a major challenge, authorities said.
“We collected samples from 360 Amrik Sukhdev Dhaba employees on Wednesday. 65 of them tested positive,” said Sonepat District Commissioner Shyam Lal Poonia.
Another 10 employees of a roadside restaurant in Murthal, Garam Dhaba, owned by actor Dharmendra, tested positive for COVID-19.
Poonia said it’s a big challenge to track down all the customers who visited the dhabas super-spreader in the last week.
Poonia said that the Sonepat district administration has been conducting a screening campaign to screen workers in Dhabas and it was during this process that these cases were detected. She said the district administration continues to carry out routine checks in Dhabas to ensure they are following safety guidelines.
The restaurants along the road in Murthal, about 70 km from Delhi, are frequented by thousands of people traveling between the national capital and Chandigarh and are known for their paranthas. It is also a popular spot for weekend brunch and night out for people who live in nearby districts.
The center has allowed interstate movement as part of its “Unblocking” plan to return life to normal after months of coronavirus lockdown. Following the easing of restrictions, people have started traveling between states. Roadside restaurants that had been closed for months suddenly saw crowds lining up at counters, which could have caused the infection to spread, authorities said.
Haryana on Thursday reported its highest peak in a single day of 1,881 coronavirus cases with 19 deaths. The Sonepat district reported 190 cases of coronavirus.
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