Coronavirus crisis: 12 HAL employees test positive, one dead

As many as 12 employees of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in Bengaluru tested positive and one died due to coronavirus on Wednesday. Between July 1 and July 7, 12 of HAL's employees were infected with COVID-19.

HAL spokesperson Gopal Sutar said that HAL was taking every step necessary to ensure all protocols related to COVID-19 are followed as per update home ministry's guidelines. The HAL hospital is well equipped with beds reserved for patients with COVID symptoms, he added. The HAL employee who died had an underlying condition, Sutar said.

HAL is a government-owned aerospace and defence company headquartered in Bengaluru. Amid coronavirus outbreak, operations at the HAL unit continued at 100 per cent staff capacity.  HAL reopened on April 28 after it was shut down on March 22 during the nationwide lockdown.

Meanwhile, a sharp spike in the number of cases in Bengaluru since easing of relaxations last month has become a cause for concern. In the first seven days of this month alone, Bengaluru has added over 6,800 cases.

The number of COVID-19 cases in Bengaluru was only 358 on May 31 when Lockdown 4 ended but has risen to 4,555 on June 30 (end of Unlock 1.0), and further zoomed to 11,361 on July 7, according to Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).

With 9,395 active cases, Bengaluru has so far reported 155 deaths and 1,810 discharges. While the positivity rate stands at 8.52 per cent, the mortality rate is 1.37 per cent.Also read: Indian Army asks soldiers to delete Facebook, Instagram, PUBG, 86 other appsAlso read: Flipkart invests Rs 260 crore to acquire minority stake in Arvind Fashions' arm