New Delhi, March 4: A day after an Italian national in Jaipur was confirmed to have contracted the novel coronavirus, 15 other tourists from Italy are reported to have tested positive for the contagious disease. The patients were part of the batch of 21 Italians who were being quarantined at a facility of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) in Delhi. 15 among them, according to reports, were confirmed to be COVID-19 positive. Narendra Modi to Avoid Holi Milan 2020 Programmes Amid Coronavirus Outbreak, Says 'Advised to Reduce Mass Gatherings'.

The Italian tourists will be kept at the isolation ward managed by the ITBP in Chhawla. More tests would be conducted to ascertain their condition and take stock of the viral load. The initial set of tests conducted have confirmed the presence of nCoV in their samples, India Today reported citing doctors of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

The health department authorities in Delhi, similar to Jaipur, would launch an operation to trace down the set of individuals whom the tourists had met before being sent for quarantine. The Union Health Ministry would be working in coordination with the state authorities. "All the hotels where the Italian tourist stayed are being sanitized. People who came in contact with the infected person, their samples taken," said ACS Health, RK Singh.

Before the Italian tourists, India had recorded five cases of coronavirus. All the victims had recently returned from abroad, where they had contracted the virus. Among them, the three patients detected in Kerala were successfully treated and have now travelled to Saudi Arabia. One each in Delhi and Hyderabad have been kept in isolation wards.

The case in Delhi, which was detected in Friday, led to two schools in Noida being shut after some of the students had attended a birthday party hosted by the infected man. The son of the COVID-19 positive person reportedly studies in one of the two schools. After a quarantine, the health department officials declared that both the schools are "coronavirus-free". They would resume operations from Thursday.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 04, 2020 11:57 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).