Haryana to track 10K people after 75 staff of highway dhabas test COVID positive

A mammoth challenge to contact trace as many as 10,000 people who visited two popular highway eateries in Haryana’s Murthal now awaits the Sonepat administration, after 75 employees at both places tested positive for COVID-19.

According to a report in NDTV, Sonepat district commissioner Shyam Lal Poonia confirmed that 65 of the 360 employees of Amrik Sukhdev Dhaba and 10 staff members of Garam Dhaba, were found infected with the virus.

Garam Dhaba is owned by Bollywood actor Dharmendra.

The two dhabas (highway joints) were sealed as soon as the test results came and a contract tracing process to track people who have visited them recently, was initiated.

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Both the eateries, situated on the Delhi-Ambala highway are known for their paranthas, and are frequented by people travelling between Delhi and Chandigarh.

According to Poonia, the employees of the said eateries were found to be positive for COVID-19 during routine tests at the dhabas by the district administration to ensure that they are following COVID protocols.

Officials that NDTV quoted attributed the high number of cases to the Unlock process of the central government which saw the opening of the highway restaurants. They say the eateries which were shut for months together, may have seen huge crowds after resuming services, leading to the spread of the infection.

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Haryana has so far reported 13,470 cases of coronavirus and 740 fatalities.