Delivery Man Gets COVID-19: 72 Delhi Homes, 17 Colleagues Isolated

Zomato and Swiggy delivery personnel will leave order outside a customer’s doorstep and send a photo to the recipient to collect it.

(Photo Courtesy: iStock / Altered by The Quint)

A pizza delivery agent tested positive for COVID-19 in South Delhi on Thursday, 16 April, according to ANI. Seventeen delivery agents linked with him have been placed under institutional quarantine, while 72 houses have been placed under home-quarantine.

“As per his records, we found out in which houses he had made deliveries in last 15 days. People in those 72 houses have been asked to remain in-home quarantine,” South Delhi’s district magistrate said.

Sources told The Indian Express that the man was on duty until the last week of March, and tested positive last week.

He had reportedly visited a hospital for dialysis earlier and is suspected to have contracted the infection there.

Zomato, Dominos Issue Clarifications

Food delivery giant Zomato issued a statement saying that while some of the deliveries made by the restaurant were done via Zomato, "we are not sure whether the rider was infected at the time of delivery".

The statement also said that the restaurant had told all delivery agents to wear masks and take precautions. “All co-workers of the said rider have been tested negative,” it said.

Meanwhile, popular pizza franchise Domino's has issued a clarification saying the incident has nothing to do with them.

Doorstep delivery of food, groceries and essential medicines is allowed during the lockdown. E-commerce activities are scheduled to open from 20 April.

The total number of cases in India climbed to 12,380 on Thursday, 16 April, according to the data released by the health ministry. The number includes 414 deaths and 1,488 recoveries.

The Union health ministry has classified 170 hotspot districts as ‘Red Zones’, while 207 non-hotspot districts with clusters and non-infected districts have been classified as ‘Green Zones’, according to ANI.

PM Modi has said that the lockdown will be extended till 3 May. All states will be closely monitored until 20 April. Conditional relaxations may be introduced in areas where hotspots don’t emerge, he said.

(With inputs from ANI and The Indian Express)