Coronavirus: Three People Test Positive In Kolkata, SpiceJet Passenger Quarantined At Delhi Airport

A passenger onboard SpiceJet's Bangkok-Delhi flight has been quarantined at Delhi airport after he was suspected of having contracted the novel coronavirus infection, said the airline on Thursday. The passenger was quarantined by the Airport Health Organisation after the plane landed at Delhi airport, it said.

"On February 13, 2020, a passenger travelling on SpiceJet flight SG-88 operating between Bangkok and Delhi was suspected of Coronavirus infection," the SpiceJet spokesperson said, "He was seated on seat no. 31F and was the only passenger in that row. The said passenger was quarantined by Airport Health Organisation (APHO) after landing in Delhi."

Earlier, two passengers who arrived at NSCBI Airport from Bangkok have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, Airports Authority of India officials said on Thursday. With this, a total of three passengers have tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Kolkata.

A passenger called Himadri Barman tested positive on Tuesday, and Nagendra Singh tested positive on Wednesday, the Director of NSCBI Airport, Kaushik Bhattacharjee, told PTI. Both of them were sent to Beliaghata ID Hospital, he said.

"Earlier a passenger called Anita Oraon had also tested positive during thermal scanning," Bhattacharjee said.

In India, six cases of coronavirus have been detected so far but there has been no casualty. The first three case were all detected in Kerala.

The virus outbreak has claimed more than 1,300 lives so far. China's Hubei province, the epicentre of the deadly coronavirus, has reported a record 242 new fatalities and nearly 15,000 fresh cases in a single day, local health officials announced on Thursday, the fastest rise in the daily count since the virus outbreak was first identified in December.

The coronavirus is a large family of viruses that causes illnesses ranging from the common cold to acute respiratory syndromes, but the virus that has killed people in China is a novel strain and not seen before.