Bengaluru, April 16 : No traces of coronavirus was found in the raw material imported from China for making drugs at Jubilant Life Sciences plant near Karnataka's Mysuru, a company official said on Thursday. "The raw material imported from China tested negative for Covid-19 virus by the state-run National Institute of Virology at Pune," said the official in a statement to IANS. The pharma major's plant at Nanjangud near Mysuru was shut down on April 7 after it was suspected to have been infected by the virus from a container that came from China with the raw material. Nanjangud is about 30km from Mysuru. "It is unfortunate that a wrong perception was created in the public and the media about the raw material imported from China," the Noida-based drug maker's official said. The raw material is active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) used in drugs required to sustain patients' lives, including azithromycin dihydrate and azithromycin monohydrate, which are needed to fight the Covid-19 disease. "Evidences and scientific facts published by global organisations, indicate that the virus does not survive for more than 72 hours on any surface," the statement said. The raw materials sampled from the Nanjangud plant took over three weeks of transit to reach India by sea route and no virus can survive that long on any surface, the company noted. Contrary to claims made by the state Health Department, the company clarified that one of its employees (patient 52) who tested positive on March 26 did not travel to China or was on an overseas trip during the last 6 months. "None of our employees tested Covid positive so far travelled overseas in the last 6 months," the official said. The employee in question, who works in the quality assurance section, had no contact with the raw material (APIs) or had no role in receiving, transporting, handling or storing it. The company also said it values the state government's support in this hour of crisis. "We are working with the district administration, the state health department and the local police to mitigate the situation arising out of the pandemic," the official added. The decade-old plant has about 1,450 employees, including 950 on its payroll and 500 on contract. The company got the plant disinfected by a certified agency to make the place safe and healthy. Mysuru has accounted for the second highest number (61) of Covid positive cases after Bengaluru Urban (76) in the state, with 49 active and 12 discharged till Thursday. /IANS