Coronavirus Outbreak: Bhutan confirms first case; over 90 contacts traced

Bhutan on Friday confirmed the first case of coronavirus in the country. The patient is a 76-year-old from the United States who have a travel history to India. He had come to Bhutan on March 2 from Guwahati, Prime Minister Lotay Tshering office confirmed in a statement.

The patient has been isolated in the COVID-19 hospital. He is kept on oxygen support considering his age and underlying conditions. The patient was traveling with his partner, aged 59 along with 10 passengers on board, of which eight others were Indian nationals. The close contacts were his partner, the driver and the guide. While all three are asymptomatic for now, they have been quarantined at the designated COVID-19 hospital.

The eight Indian passengers have also been quarantined. The government is closely working with the Indian Embassy. Over 90 contacts have been traced so far. Health officials and other relevant agencies are in the process of carrying out primary disease management and contact tracing.

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Contact tracings were launched as per the patient's itinerary. It included people he associated with at all the points and stops along the way, starting from Paro airport to Thimphu, to Punakha and back. It included tea stops at Druk Wangyal Cafe and lunch at Punakha High School park. Health ministry has asked the four crew members of the particular flight, and the hotel staff at both Le Meridien and Densa Boutique Resort to "home quarantine". Which means they should stay home and maintain distance from people, including family members. Until all suspicions are ruled out, health officials will closely monitor and provide all services at respective homes

Coronavirus Outbreak

Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan on March 6 visited the Indira Gandhi International airport in New Delhi to inspect the preparedness to tackle coronavirus outbreak. Harsh Vardhan visited Terminal-3 of the international airport to take stock of the arrangements made for the screening of passengers coming from the 78 countries that have reported active coronavirus cases. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) said that it had registered 2,241 new confirmed cases of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) worldwide within the past 24 hours, with 84 people having died, which brought the total death toll to 3,282.  The whole number of people, who were diagnosed with COVID-19, has reached 95,333, including 80,565 people in China.  COVID-19 was first detected in China's Wuhan in late December and has since spread across the world. In late January, the WHO declared a global health emergency in light of the epidemic.

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(With agency inputs)