Assam on alert after US visitor to state reported as first coronavirus case in Bhutan

india

Updated: Mar 06, 2020 14:40 IST

Authorities in Assam on Friday initiated steps to find details of the travel itinerary and people who came in contact with a US citizen, who was in the state before he flew to Bhutan this week and tested positive for coronavirus disease.

The 76-year-old US tourist had come to India on February 21 with his 59-year-old partner and had travelled to several places before boarding a Drukair flight KB241 to Paro in Bhutan from the Guwahati airport on March 2.

Bhutan Prime Minister’s Office announced on Friday morning that the US tourist had tested positive for COVID-19. The patient’s partner and eight other Indians who travelled to Bhutan on the same flight, which had 10 passengers, have been quarantined in the Himalayan kingdom.

“We are aware that the US citizen had gone to Bhutan from India and was in Assam as well. We came to know about this on Friday morning,” Anurag Goel, commissioner and secretary of the health and family welfare department, said.

“Since the patient is in Bhutan, we are in touch with the authorities of that country to know which places he stayed in India and how he travelled while he was here. We are trying to collect that data and find out about the persons he came in contact with,” Goel added.

The senior official said that teams are already working on “contact-tracing” or to find out everyone the patient may have come in contact with. It is not clear yet where the US citizen stayed or the places he travelled while in Assam.

Meanwhile, two cases of suspected coronavirus infections have been detected in the state and samples of both have been sent to a laboratory for tests.

Assam hasn’t reported any coronavirus case so far.

“We have currently one suspected case in Tezpur, detected on Thursday. We are awaiting the results of his samples. There was another suspected patient whose samples have been sent for testing on Wednesday. We are waiting for that result as well,” said Goel.