Coronavirus Outbreak: 9 Italian Tourists, Indian Guide Quarantined in MP's Naugaon

Chhatarpur: Nine Italian tourists and their Indian guide were quarantined near here on Wednesday for suspected exposure to the novel coronavirus, officials said.

The Italian tourists and their Indian guide arrived here in Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday evening by road after travelling by a train to Jhansi from Agra, they said.

They were taken to a quarantine facility set up at Naugaon town near here, district collector Sheelendra Singh told PTI.

"Two of them are suffering form cough and cold. They have been quarantined as a precaution. A team of doctors has been taking samples of the Italian tourists and their guide," Singh said.

The holiday-makers and their Indian guide were quarantined at TB Hospital in Naugaon, around 23km from here, where an isolation ward has been set up for suspected coronavirus patients, district hospital civil surgeon R S Tripathi said.

The government-run hospital currently does not have any tuberculosis (TB) patient and it has been converted into a quarantine facility, Tripathi said.

Khajuraho Airport Director Pradeepta Kumar Bej said the Italian tourists were first sent to the district hospital as a precaution because their travel history involved visits to the coronavirus-affected countries.

The tourists's home country is the worst-affected nation in Europe from the deadly virus (COVID-19), whose outbreak was first reported from China in December-end.

District collector Singh said health officials are keeping a close watch on the Italian tourists and their Indian guide at the quarantine facility which he is going to visit.

A local tourist guide, Rameshwar Gupta, said the Italian group had reached Jhansi from Agra with the Indian guide by a train on Tuesday.

After spending the entire day in Orchha, the group reached Khajuraho in the evening, he said. Gupta said the group visited temples in Khajuraho on Wednesday morning and was scheduled to board a flight to Varanasi in the afternoon.

Tripathi said all ten were brought to the hospital on Wednesday evening. A team of doctors has been sent to the Naugaon hospital from Chhatarpur, the civil surgeon added.