Italian couple tests positive for COVID-19 in Jaipur

Visitors wear protective masks in wake of the deadly novel Coronavirus, at Government Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad. Pic/PTI

An Italian tourist and his wife in Jaipur have tested positive for novel Coranavirus, taking the total number of confirmed cases in India to six so far, Union Health Ministry sources said Tuesday. The first sample collected from the tourist on Saturday had tested negative, but his condition deteriorated and a second sample was collected, which tested positive on Monday.

"Since there was a variation in the reports, samples were sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune for testing," officials said, adding that it had tested positive. The wife of the Italian tourist also tested positive for the virus. Twenty-one Italian tourists and three Indian tour operators, who were in the same group as the couple, have been sent to an ITBP quarantine facility in Delhi on Tuesday for suspected Coronavirus exposure, official sources said.

Two schools shut
Two private schools in Noida were shut on Tuesday for next few days after the father of one of their students tested positive for Coronavirus, while several people, including his family members, were quarantined or kept in isolation as authorities stepped up prevention efforts including extending suspension of existing regular and e visas to nationals of four other affected countries.

Fliers to follow protocol
Air India has asked passengers who travelled on February 25 with a person who tested positive for coronavirus, to follow Union Health Ministry protocols. The directive comes a day after the Health Ministry announced that a Delhi resident has tested positive for novel coronavirus, and asked the Air India crew who had flown the Vienna-Delhi flight on February 25 on which he was a passenger to stay in isolation at their homes for 14 days.

Four IndiGo crew members, who were on a Dubai-Bengaluru flight on February 20 with a coronavirus-infected Hyderabad resident, have also been under home observation since March 2, the airline said on Tuesday. The Health Ministry said on Tuesday that six cases with "high-viral load" were detected during sample testing in Agra and these people had been kept in isolation.

A five-star hotel in the Capital has asked its staff, who were present at one of its restaurants where an individual tested positive for Coronavirus dined on February 28, to go on self-quarantine for 14 days.

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