India Says 15 More Italian Tourists, Driver Test Positive for Coronavirus

(Bloomberg) -- India's coronavirus infections jumped to 28, including 16 Italian tourists, pushing authorities to step up preventive measures, intensify surveillance and enhance testing facilities.

The Indian driver of the infected members of the Italian tour group in the western city of Jaipur also tested positive for the virus, federal Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said at a press conference in New Delhi Wednesday.

This is the biggest jump in infections reported in India where the total confirmed cases until Tuesday had stood at six, including a Delhi resident who traveled Italy, a Bengaluru-based official who returned from Dubai and traveled to Hyderabad and one Italian tourist in the western city of Jaipur. Earlier three students from southern Kerala state, who returned from Wuhan in China, the epicenter of the outbreak, tested positive for the virus and were treated and discharged from hospital after they recovered.

On Wednesday the 22 new confirmed infections also included six Indians who contracted the infection from their Delhi-based relative who had traveled to Italy.

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Total infections worldwide have risen above 93,000 and the death toll rose to more than 3,201.

In India authorities have worked to trace all those who had come into contact with the infected people. At least two private schools in a Delhi suburb have been shut for few days as a precaution amid news that some students may have met one of the infected. Staff at a city five-star hotel were also asked to self-quarantine for two weeks as the infected person had visited the property.

The country is also intensifying its passenger scanning at airports and will now screen all travelers flying in from overseas for virus symptoms. State governments have been advised to augment isolation and testing facilities, Vardhan said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said in a tweet Wednesday he will not participate in the Hindu festival of Holi because health experts had advised against public gatherings.

To contact the reporter on this story: Bibhudatta Pradhan in New Delhi at bpradhan@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ruth Pollard at rpollard2@bloomberg.net, Muneeza Naqvi

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