An Italian tourist has been been confirmed to have coronavirus after his sample checked out positive at the National Institute of Virology, Pune on March 3, a top Rajasthan government official said.

Even the samples of the tourist's wife, admitted in the SMS hospital, have tested positive in a Jaipur lab on Tuesday and are being sent to Pune for cross-verification, Chief Secretary said. He said that the 69-year-old Italian, along with other 22 other group members, came to Rajasthan from Delhi, going to Mandawa on February 21, Bikaner, Jodhpur, Udaipur and coming to Jaipur on February 28. There, the man complained of cough and breathlessness and was taken to the Fortis Hospital, which, after keeping him overnight, referred him to the SMS Hospital.

The first report of this Italian came negative. However, as his condition deteriorated, another sample was tested which came positive this time. Later, his samples were sent to Pune which confirmed Covid-19 virus positive, he said. Even the samples of his 70-year-old wife tested positive on Tuesday and are being sent to the Institute of Virology for further testing, officials said, adding that the report will come on Wednesday evening.

The state government has alerted the staff and an emergency meeting was called here in the evening to discuss the way to tackle the virus. Soon after receiving the report from Pune, the SMS hospital administration made strong security arrangements, moving both patients to an isolation ward, A three kilometre area around the SMS hospital has been declared as containment zone, officials said, adding that the houses in this area shall be surveyed by health officials.

The Chief Secretary also said that the Central government has directed setting up of a rapid response team at the district level with the District Collector as nodal officer, and the state government is doing so. "We have asked the Tourist Department and police to ensure the message is conveyed to all hotels that any case of illness should be reported immediately to the government so that the patient might not leave undetected. The patient contacts travel desk as he does not know about any local doctors, hence, we have asked them to report all such matters immediately on our helpline numbers." The Ramada hotel, where the Italian couple, were staying has been sanitised completely in Jaipur, he added.