Amid Covid scare, two American tourists test positive in Agra, samples sent for genome sequencing

Covid scare in India: The two American tourists were part of a group that came here from Varanasi and was staying at a hotel here. The Agra CMO said that samples of everyone in the group were taken but only the two Americans tested Covid positive.

Agra: Two American tourists, who visited the Taj Mahal on Tuesday, have tested Covid-19 positive, a senior health official said. Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of Agra, Dr Arun Srivastava, said on Thursday that the two American tourists were part of a group that came here from Varanasi and was staying at a hotel here. He said that samples of everyone in the group were taken but only the two Americans tested Covid positive.

"They reached Agra on January 9 via Varanasi and visited the Taj Mahal the next day. Samples of the tourists were taken by the team of the health department of Agra at the east gate of the Taj Mahal," Dr Srivastava said.

He said that samples of the tourists have been sent for genome sequencing in Lucknow. Dr. Srivastava said the health department of Jaipur has been alerted as the group of tourists was next headed to Rajasthan.

Till now two residents of Agra - one who returned from China and another one from the USA - tested Covid positive.

In the last week of December, one tourist from Argentina, who visited the Taj Mahal, tested positive. However, health officials of the district could not trace him later as the details given by him were found to be incorrect.