13 Italian tourists kept in isolation overnight in Amritsar, no coronavirus symptoms shown

Thirteen Italian tourists were kept in isolation overnight at their hotel in Amritsar by the health department to check for coronavirus symptoms, an official said.

The tourists were asked not to leave their hotel rooms after they checked in on Thursday night.

However, they showed no symptoms of the virus in the medical check-up done on Friday and were allowed to leave for Delhi, Amritsar Sub Divisional Magistrate Vikas Hira told PTI over the phone.

Earlier, Amritsar Civil Surgeon Prabhdeep Kaur had said that the group had been quarantined. They were also wrongly identified as Iranians.

SDM Hira said the tourists were travelling in the country for the past four days and had come to Amritsar from Haridwar.

They had come to the city for a day-long visit, he said.

"In the states they had visited, they were medically examined and no symptoms of coronavirus were found," he said, adding that they were carrying valid documents of medical check-ups as well.

We got a medical check-up done on them as a precautionary measure, he added.

Prabhdeep Kaur also said that the check-up was done as a precautionary measure.

She had earlier said they had received communication from the health department that the tourists were Iranian. However, they were found to be from Italy after officials verified with them in the hotel.

The Punjab government is on high alert and keeping a close watch on the movements of those who had a history of foreign travel in view of the novel coronavirus, officials said.