india

Updated: Mar 02, 2020 20:40 IST

A 69-year-old Italian national in Rajasthan tested positive for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on Monday, state health minister Raghu Sharma said on Monday. The man was shifted to the isolation ward of the SMS Medical Hospital in Jaipur even as the health department officials went into a huddle to discuss the development.

A note from the hospital said the Italian came with a group from Udaipur on February 28 and checked into a hotel in the capital city where he complained of breathlessness and cough. “He was taken to Fortis Hospital the same night and he was kept there overnight. On February 29, around noon, he was shifted to SMS Hospital and kept in medical ICU,” principal of the SMS Medical College Dr Sudhir Bhandari said.

The principal said he was screened for H1N1 and coronavirus. After he tested negative for coronavirus, he was shifted to Sethia H1N1 ICU for observation.

“Today the second screening test came out to be positive and the man was shifted back to the ICU of the isolation ward. All due precautions were taken and sample for confirmation is being sent to the National Institute of Virology, Pune,” Dr Bhandari said.

Following the development, the state health minister said he had ordered screening of all patients in the ICU in which the Italian man was kept for two days.

The case from Rajasthan was reported few hours after the Union health ministry announced two new cases of coronavirus - one in Delhi and the other in Telangana .

“One positive case of Covid-19 has been detected in New Delhi, and one has been detected in Telangana,” the Union Health Ministry said in a release, referring to the official name of the disease.

“The person from Delhi has a travel history from Italy, while the one from Telangana has a travel history from Dubai,” the ministry said.

Watch: Coronavirus: Over 60 countries hit by the deadly virus globally, toll reaches 3000

Earlier, in January, one suspected case of coronavirus in Rajasthan had tested negative. The blood report of the MBBS student who was suspected to have contracted the virus was received on January 29 and tested negative, said Rohit Kumar Singh, additional chief secretary, health.

A total of 18 people from four districts of the state who had returned from visits to China have all been screened and none had any symptoms of the virus. However they will be monitored for 28 days as per the protocol, said Singh.

He said the health department is doing screening at the international terminal at the Jaipur airport. The department has deployed thermal scanners at the airport for scanning.

With fresh cases being reported in the country, the health ministry has increased screening and advised people to avoid non-essential travel to countries where most coronavirus infections are being reported from.

“The screening of passengers is being conducted at 21 airports, 12 major seaports and 65 minor seaports. 5,57,431 passengers have been screened so far at airports and 12,431 passengers have been screened on minor and major seaports,” Union health minister Harsh Vardhan said at a press briefing in New Delhi on Monday.

“We advise Indians to avoid non-essential travel to China, Iran, Korea, Singapore, and Italy. As the situation develops, the travel restrictions may be further extended to other countries also,” he added.

He also said that the country is “already prepared in advance and are closely monitoring other countries.”

Of the cases in India so far, the first three were reported from Kerala. The state was successful in restricting the virus and discharged all three after their treatment.

The death toll from the new coronavirus epidemic surpassed 3,000 on Monday as more people died in China, Iran and the US and Europe raised its state of alert.

The virus has now infected more than 89,000, spread to over 60 countries and threatens to cause a global economic slowdown -- after first emerging in China late last year.