A senior health official reported on Thursday that a foreign visitor who had been to the Taj Mahal on December 26 has vanished after testing positive with COVID-19, news agency PTI reported.
The Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of Agra, Dr. Arun Srivastava, said that they were unable to locate the tourist because the contact information he provided was sparse.
Speaking with PTI, Agra's CMO stated: "A tourist visited the Taj Mahal on December 26 and his sample for the COVID-19 test was taken at the entrance gate of the monument. His report was found COVID-19 positive in RT PCR test. However, the contact number and other details mentioned by the tourist is incorrect and we have not been able to find him since then."
He said that the Local Intelligence Unit (LIU), the Hotels Association, and other sources are now being used by the health department to find the tourist.
"The Health Department in Agra is taking steps to trace the location of the tourist so that he can be given proper treatment and other people can also be saved from infection," he said.
"We have asked hotel associations to provide the details of the foreign tourists staying in hotels and are also taking help from the police and LIU. Besides that now onwards an ID card of every foreign tourist will be taken at the time of sample collection for the future record," Srivastava said.
Following the Center's instructions, testing has escalated at the Agra airport, bus stops, and train station.
Health officials in Agra have started checking visitors to the Taj Mahal and other landmarks, with a particular emphasis on international visitors.
The Taj Mahal in Agra attracts a sizable number of visitors from both inside and outside the country every day. In light of the circumstance, they will have to do a Covid test before their arrival, according to the official sources, ANI reported.
India Covid Cases
In the last 24 hours, 268 new instances of the novel coronavirus were reported in India. The Union Health Ministry released figures today, showing that the overall recovery rate was about 98.80% and the total number of recoveries was 4,41,43,665.
Data from the health ministry indicated on Thursday that there are now 3,552 active COVID-19 cases in India as a whole. Around 3,468 active cases were reported yesterday.
In the last 24 hours, there has been an increase of 84 cases total in the COVID-19 active caseload. According to the government, the number of current cases is 0.001% of all infections.
The current death toll in the nation is 5,30,698. The first COVID pandemic-related mortality in India was recorded in March 2020.
(With Inputs From Agencies)