At least 215 people came in touch with COVID-19 affected Italian group: Rajasthan health minister

Rajasthan Health Minister Raghu Sharma informed the House on Wednesday that at least 215 people came in contact with the COVID-19 affected group of Italian tourists that had visited various places in the state.

Replying to an adjournment motion in the state Assembly, Sharma said swab samples of 93 people have been taken.

A total of 51 suspected patients have been tested negative whereas reports of 41 others are still pending, he said.

Fifty-three people in Jhunjhunu, 14 each in Jodhpur and Jaisalmer, 44 in Bikaner, six in Udaipur and 76 people in Jaipur came in contact with the group.

The minister informed the members of the House that the 15 Italian tourists who had reached Delhi, via Jaipur and Agra, have been tested positive for COVID-19.

He said that though there is no prescribed medication or vaccine to treat the disease, the suspected patients in the state are being given swine flu medication as a precautionary measure.

Purchase orders have been given for 50,000 personal protective equipment kits and 5 lakh each of N95 and triple layer masks to deal with the problem, the minister said.

He said that Italy has the third largest number of coronavirus cases in the world and tourists should have been screened earlier.

The tourists entered Rajasthan via road from Delhi, he said, adding that that the state did not receive information about screening and travel plans of the tourists.

Listing out the measures taken by the Health department, he said that teams have been alerted to thoroughly screen passengers at airports while rapid response teams have been formed in the medical colleges and associated hospitals.

Leader of Opposition Gulab Chand Kataria said the entire opposition stands with the government and whatever precautions are required should be taken. The state government should track the places where the tourists had visited in the state, he said adding that this is not the time to blame the government and administration.

Kataria said land should be earmarked if there was any need to build isolation wards. It is a problem and people of the state should fight against the virus together, he said.

Fear and panic prevailing among the people should also be mitigated, he added.

Opposition members Rajendra Rathore, Kalicharan Saraf and Ashok Lahoti also expressed their views on the coronavirus issue.

Rajendra Pareek, who was in the Speaker's chair, said homeopathy practitioners in the clinic inside the Assembly have informed him about preventive medicine in homeopathy and his views can be also be noted. He said that there was no harm in taking opinion of the practitioners.

To this, the health minister said they would follow guidelines issued by the Centre and the World Health Organisation (WHO) to decide the future course of action. 

Image Credits: PTI