Aurangabad, June 26: Bajaj Auto's manufacturing facility at Waluj in Maharashtra's Aurangabad district has not shut its operations, the company clarified on Friday. The clarification came after reports suggested that Bajaj Auto's plant at Waluj had been shut for two days after several employees contracted coronavirus (COVID-19). While the company confirmed 140 cases of coronavirus infections at its Wahuj plant, it said operations at the facility will continue.

"It has come to our attention that there are reports circulating that Bajaj Auto’s manufacturing facility at Waluj in Maharashtra has shut down due to incidence of Covid 19 amongst some employees there. At the outset we want to clarify that our manufacturing facility at Waluj is functioning normally (sic)," the company said in a statement. Coronavirus Spike Likely in July-August, Striving to Restrict Fatality Rate, Says Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope.

"We have more than 8100 employees and contractors employed in our Waluj plant. Our current incidence of 140 cases of Covid is less than 2 percent of our strength. Two of our infected employees with underlying conditions of hyper tension and diabetes have unfortunately succumbed to the infection," the Bajaj Auto informed.

The Maharashtra Health Department, in the statistics released on Thursday, said Aurangabad's tally of infections jumped by 230 in the preceding 12-hour period. The total count of cases surged to 4,266, whereas, the death toll stood at 218.

Industrial plants and factories began resuming operations in Maharashtra last month, after lockdown measures were relaxed in the third and fourth phase. From June 8, the state government launched a phase-wise 'Mission Began Again' to gradually restart all sectors of the economy.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 26, 2020 09:47 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).