Coronavirus: Now, Italian Tourist's Wife Tests Positive At Jaipur Hospital, Sample Sent To Pune For Confirmation

The wife of an Italian tourist in Jaipur has also tested positive for novel coronavirus, said the Rajasthan Health Ministry on Tuesday, hours after her husband tested positive for the virus, taking the  total number of confirmed cases in India to 7 so far. The sample of her tests is being sent to the National Institute of Virology in Pune for confirmation, it said. The first sample collected from the 69-year-old man, 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. India on Monday reported two new cases of the deadly coronavirus, one from Delhi and another one from Hyderabad. The government has stepped up its efforts to detect and check the infection which has killed over 3,100 people worldwide.  

Rajasthan Health Minister Dr Raghu Sharma instructed health officials to screen all those people who had come in contact with the Italian tourist tested positive for coronavirus. Asking to step up vigil, the minister also asked officials to send a rapid response team of the Medical Education and Health Department to the places visited by the couple, along with 18 others from Italy. 

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The team, including senior professors and epidemiologists, will inspect hotels and excursions in Jaipur, Udaipur, Jodhpur, Bikaner, Mandawa (Jhunjhunu) and Jaisalmer.    Jaipur Chief Medical and Health Officer Dr Narottam Sharma said the room where the 69-year-old tourist stayed has been locked.

“The room will be disinfected as per the procedure. The hotel authorities will be able to use it only after it is properly disinfected,” Sharma said, adding that samples of the four staffers who were in touch with the tourist have also been collected for testing.

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The Italian tourist was tested positive for coronavirus following a test conducted at Jaipur's Sawai Man Singh Hospital. An earlier test conducted at the same government hospital had, however, cleared the man of the virus.Since the two reports were contradictory, the SMS Hospital sent his swab sample to the National Institute of Virology in Pune, which on Tuesday confirmed that he was infected with the virus.

(With PTI inputs)