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Coronavirus: 400 In Assam Quarantined After US Tourist Tests Positive

Reports said that the first-ever Kaziranga Utsav and the 33rd Guwahati Book Fair have been postponed because of the coronavirus outbreak.
Representative image.
Hindustan Times via Getty Images
Representative image.

As India tries to cope with the coronavirus outbreak, 400 people in Assam have been quarantined, the first-ever Kaziranga Utsav and the Guwahati bookfair postponed after a 76-year-old American tourist tested positive for COVID-19.

While the tourist tested positive in Bhutan, he had been travelling through Assam.

State health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma tweeted saying, “Health Department, Assam has been taking all possible measures to combat #CoronaVirus in State. In the aftermath of an American tourist declared positive for Corona virus while in Bhutan, State Health officials have swung into action.”

“State Health Dept has traced more than 400 contacts in different places including MV Mahabahu and resorts where he stayed. Teams of doctors and microbiologists have been keeping a close watch on these people who have been quarantined,” Sarma said.

Sarma said that till now 5 tests had been done and all of the people tested negative.

Meanwhile, an India Today report said that the first-ever Kaziranga Utsav and the 33rd Guwahati Book Fair were cancelled as part of the precautions taken by the state.

The Kaziranga Utsav was supposed to be held from March 12 to 15. The book fair scheduled for later this month has been indefinitely put on hold, the report said.

PTI reported that the 18 rooms of the resort in which the US national had stayed on March 1, before taking a flight to Paro International Airport in Bhutan, had been sealed and sanitised.

The PTI report said that on Saturday, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Pijush Hazarika said the river cruise ship MV Mahabahu, on which the US tourist had travelled from Guwahati on Brahmaputra, had been quarantined at a distance away from docking Neamatighat in Jorhat district.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.