Fifteen of the 21 Italian tourists, who have been quarantined in Delhi, have been confirmed of being infected with the novel Coronavirus or COVID-19. Fourteen out of these are Italian nationals, while one person is Indian, who was travelling with the group.
Results confirming the same were released by NIV, Pune.
All 15 persons have been quarantined at the ITBP Camp in Chhawla in New Delhi. They were kept in preventive isolation since yesterday afternoon.
The group was a part of 21 Italian tourists who had landed in Delhi and had travelled to Rajasthan last month.
A 69-year-old Italian man, who was in the same group of tourists, had tested positive for the virus in Rajasthan on Monday. On Tuesday, his wife was also found to have been infected with Coronavirus. Both of them are being treated in a hospital in Jaipur.
Three Indians, who were accompanying this Italian group as tour operators, have also been sent to the ITBP facility in Chhawla area of south-west Delhi.
With this, the total number of people infected with COVID-19 has now reached 21. These include 15 tourists from Italy, 3 from Kerala (who have recovered) and one each from Delhi, Hyderabad and Agra.
Rajasthan has been put on high alert in the wake of the emergence of COVID-19 cases.
Rajasthan Health Department has issued directives to the districts where the Italian tourist — who tested positive for coronavirus — travelled. Collectors of Jhunjhunu, Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Udaipur and Jaipur-I and II have been notified these directives. These include the disinfection of the buses and hotels in which the Italian group travelled in and stayed.
Meanwhile, the six people from Noida who had come in contact with the infected Delhi man, have tested negative for Coronavirus. The Coronavirus infected man from Delhi had organised a party in Agra, which was also attended by the school mates of his children and five other families.
The six have, however, been kept self-quarantined at their home for the next 14 days and if symptoms for COVID-19 develop, they would be retested, the officials said.
Two Noida schools were shut on Tuesday amid concerns over the virus outbreak.
A total of 40 students of the Shriram Millennium school in Sector 135 Noida — where the child of the Delhi patient studied — have been tested for the virus and sent to a 28-day isolation. The school bus was also sanitised as a precautionary measure.
Meanwhile, a passenger who came from Saudi Arabia and reached Bengaluru airport has shown symptoms of fever. The passenger has been taken to Rajiv Gandhi Hospital in Bengaluru and is being kept at an isolation ward.
An Army officer who returned from Iran last month has been isolated in Madhya Pradesh for suspected exposure to the coronavirus. However, there were conflicting versions of where he was isolated. A health official said the 32-year-old officer had been quarantined at the military hospital at Mhow near Indore, while senior Army officials said he was at home. The conflicting versions could not be immediately reconciled, reported PTI. The officer had returned from Tehran, Iran’s capital, on February 25.
Two suspected cases have been reported from Maharashtra. One person has been admitted to a hospital in Mumbai and another in Pune. Their test results are expected today.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday urged people not to panic as six people in India were confirmed to be infected by the virus, including an Italian couple in Rajasthan, while the government banned visitors from four countries hit by the potentially deadly virus.
The virus which has spread to more than 70 countries has killed over 3000 people and infected over 90,000 globally.
The World Health Organization (WHO) announced that the world is entering “uncharted territory” as pockets of COVID-19 infections continue to rise.