india

Updated: Mar 05, 2020 00:55 IST

At least 215 people came in contact with a group of 23 Italian tourists that visited various places in Rajasthan before a couple among them tested positive for coronavirus, the state’s Health Minister Raghu Sharma told the state assembly on Wednesday.

He said swab samples of 93 people have been taken, of which 51 suspected patients have been tested negative, whereas report of 41 others is awaited.

The driver of the bus the tourists hired, his helper and a guide were also with the tourists during their visit to Rajasthan. The Italians who landed in Delhi on February 21 had visited six districts in Rajasthan till February 28.

The state government has directed the health department to procure additional 50,000 personal protective equipment (PPE) kit; five lakh N-95 masks and five lakh triple layer masks.

“Fifty nine people in Jhunjhunu, 44 in Bikaner, 14 each in Jodhpur and Jaisalmer, 6 in Udaipur and 78 people in Jaipur came in contact with the Italian tourists in the state,” the minister told the assembly.

He said the government began testing for coronavirus on Tuesday at the SMS Hospital’s microbiology department. Till Wednesday, 113 samples have been tested of which 98 were found negative, one positive and another one tested positive in preliminary test, which has been sent to National Institute of Virology (NIC) laboratory in Pune for confirmation. The result of 13 samples is awaited.

Health department sources said before March 2, 2020, in absence of testing facility in the state, five samples were sent to the NIV which were found negative.

The minister informed that there are 30 isolation wards at SMS hospital in Jaipur for the treatment of suspected patients. Isolation wards are also available at all medical colleges and district hospitals. Till date, 89 passengers were admitted to respective medical colleges or district hospital for test and treatment.

Sharma said from January 28, the medical staff comprising of five doctors and five nursing staff were deployed at the Jaipur airport for screening. Till date 26832 passengers have been screened. Seventy seven of the passengers had flown in from countries where coronvirus is prevalent. A total of nine were found with symptoms but tested negative.

“We will follow guidelines issued by the Centre and the WHO to decide the future course of action,” Sharma said.

He said that Italy is the third largest country in the world affected by the disease and tourists should have been screened. Sharma said that the tourists entered Rajasthan by road from Delhi and the government had not received any information about screening and travel plan of the tourists.

He said that health department teams have been alerted to thoroughly screen passengers at airports. The government has also set up rapid response teams in medical colleges and associated hospitals.

Leader of Opposition Gulab Chand Kataria said that the entire opposition was with the government and whatever precautions are required should be taken. He said that it is not the time to blame the government and administration.

Kataria said that if there was any need to build isolation wards then land should be earmarked it.” It is a problem and people of the state should together fight it. Fear and panic prevailing in the people should also be mitigated,” the opposition leader said.