On Thursday, 21 January, a fire broke out near the terminal 1 gate of the Serum Institute of India in Pune. According to news agency ANI, the fire has affected the fourth and fifth floors of the SEZ3 building.
UPDATE:- 5 bodies have been recovered from the site of destruction.
As many as 10 fire tenders were rushed to the spot and at least three people were evacuated.
As per reports, the fire took place at an under-construction unit. Sources cited by reports said that 'Covishield' production would not be hit due to the incident.
Serum Institute CEO Adar Poonawalla took to Twitter and said “there have been no lives lost or major injuries due to the fire, despite a few floors being destroyed”.
I would like to reassure all governments & the public that there would be no loss of #COVISHIELD production due to multiple production buildings that I had kept in reserve to deal with such contingencies at @SerumInstIndia. Thank you very much @PuneCityPolice & Fire Department
— Adar Poonawalla (@adarpoonawalla) January 21, 2021
"The fire broke out at Manjri plant. Production wasn’t done there, but preparation was on to begin it at a later stage. Fire fighting operation is on. Building has been vacated but we’re re-checking.... (There’s) no problem at the vaccine plant/storage," Pune Police Commissioner, as quoted by ANI
The Serum Institute of India is manufacturing the coronavirus vaccine, 'Covishield', that was developed by Oxford-AstraZeneca. The vaccine was given emergency use approval by India's top drug regulator earlier in January, and was rolled out on 16 January.
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