Coronavirus update: Italian national under observation in Tezpur, Assam

GUWAHATI: An Italian national on March 6 was put under observation at a hotel in Tezpur, Sonitpur district after he arrived there amidst the coronavirus scare, an official said.

However, the foreigner did not show any of the traditional symptoms of the terrible disease, which has prompted a global panic. After China, Italy is one of the worst-hit countries where the disease broke out.

The official said that the visitor's samples have been collected and sent for testing.

Earlier on Friday Bhutanese Prime Minister Lotay Tshering announced that one positive coronavirus case has been confirmed in the country on March 5 and the patient is a US tourist who arrived here via Guwahati.

According to the Health Ministry of Bhutan, the patient was on a tour of India from February 21 to March 1. He started his travel from Washington D.C. on February 18. He was traveling with his partner, who is aged 59, and there were 10 passengers on board at the time he arrived in Bhutan, of which eight were Indian nationals. Schools and institutions in three districts of Thimphu, Paro, and Punakha where the patient visited have been closed for three weeks.

Management at Radisson Blu Hotel in Guwahati had evacuated the second floor of the hotel as the US tourist who tested positive for coronavirus had stayed at that place.

The tourist had stayed in room number 224. Over 20 staff of the hotel who had come in contact with the tourist are under observation.

The hotel authorities are sanitizing the room and carrying out the necessary procedure.

According to reports the US national landed in Jorhat on February 22 in an Indigo flight. He also took a 7-day cruise on MV Mahabahu. He went to Kaziranga and Majuli. Later he traveled to Bhutan where he is undergoing treatment.

Assam has been put on high alert after this.

Also Read: Coronavirus alert in Jorhat: US tourist detected positive in Bhutan

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