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GUWAHATI: Assam health authorities have traced the travel path of a 76-year-old US citizen, who was in the state for more than eight days, before he flew from Guwahati to Paro in Bhutan and tested positive for coronavirus at Thimphu on Friday.

“He along with his fiancée were in a hotel. Luckily, the room was not allotted to any other guest after the couple left the next day. The hotel has been asked to fumigate the room and all the hotel staff, who came in contact with him, have been quarantined. We have also traced the driver of the vehicle by which the couple travelled here and he is being quarantined too,” Assam director of health services Dr Rathindra Bhuyan said.

The US citizen, along with several other foreign tourists, travelled from Majuli to Guwahati by a river cruise on the Brahmaputra for a week in February. The cruise ship is now on a return trip to Neematighat in Jorhat. Bhuyan said that the ship will arrive at Neematighat on Saturday and health officials are ready there for screening the people on board. The luxury cruise ship mainly caters to foreign tourists.

The US tourist is believed to have tested negative at Guwahati airport screening, just like he tested negative at Paro airport on March 2. “Because of higher temperatures here, his symptoms might not have developed,” Dr Bhuyan said.

A source said that the state government is mulling writing to the Centre seeking a temporary ban on entry of foreign tourists. “That is the best way to keep everyone safe and the Centre should take this step now,” a source said. Another tourist from Italy has also been quarantined at Tezpur Medical College and the authorities are waiting for reports of his blood samples. Health department officials said that screenings are also being carried out at Kaziranga National Park, which is another foreign tourist hotspot in the state. Assam has not reported any case of coronavirus infection so far.

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