Coronavirus: Test reports of 68 people who were in contact with Italian couple negative; 8 awaited

The test reports of 68 people who had come in contact with the Italian couple, who tested positive for the new coronavirus earlier this week, have come out negative, a senior health department official said here on Thursday.

Test results of eight more people are awaited, the official said.

As many as 229 people were found to have come in contact with the Italian tourists who visited Jaipur, Bikaner, Udaipur, Jodhpur, Jhunjhunu and Jaipur.

Of them, samples were collected from 76 people.

"Sixty-eight have tested negative and test reports of eight samples are yet to come," said Additional Chief Secretary, Medical and Health, Rohit Kumar Singh.

He said 247 samples have been collected in the state so far and 239 samples have been tested. Barring the Italian couple, the test reports of all others (except 8 which are under process) are negative, he added.

The Italian couple are admitted to an isolation ward in SMS Hospital in Jaipur.

While the 69-year-old man tested positive for the virus on Monday, his wife tested positive the next day.

Singh said the situation was reviewed with health department officials on Thursday.