Number of Covid positive foreign nationals in Vrindavan goes up to nine

All nine Covid positive cases have been traced to the same ashram in Vrindavan. Three of the foreign nationals testing positive, including a man from Switzerland and two Russian women, have gone back to their countries. The other six are isolated in the ashram and undergoing treatment.

Agra With five more foreigners, including a teenager, testing positive for Covid -19, the total number of foreign devotees found infected in Vrindavan town of Mathura district has gone up to nine. Surprisingly, three of them went back to their countries even before their reports came.

Surprisingly, three out of the nine foreign nationals testing Covid positive have gone back to their countries, apparently by obtaining negative reports from some private labs. (Pic for representation)

All the devotees are from the same ashram in Vrindavan and had arrived here in the middle of the month.

“In the latest report that was received on Tuesday, the 13-year-old daughter of an infected Russian woman also tested positive. On Monday evening, three Russian women and a woman from the USA tested positive for Covid -19. Four people had tested positive on Sunday evening and so the total number of foreign nationals testing positive for Covid -19 has now gone up to nine in Vrindavan,” said Dr Swati Jadia, medical officer incharge of Vrindavan Community Health Centre.

“All nine cases are traced to the same ashram in Vrindavan. Three of those testing positive, including a man from Switzerland and two Russian women, have gone back to their countries. The other six are isolated in the ashram and undergoing treatment,” said Dr Swati.

A woman, aged 30, from Lithuania was the first to be found infected with Covid-19 on Friday (November 26). A Spanish woman and a Swiss national, a male, tested positive thereafter. A 41-year old woman from Austria tested positive on Monday.

“Four people tested positive on Monday evening, including three Russian women, aged 28, 34 and 35 years as well as a 51-year-old womanfrom the USA. A girl (13 years), daughter of the infected Russian woman living in the same ashram, tested positive on Tuesday evening,” said Dr Swati Jadia.

“Out of these nine foreign nationals testing positive, four were fully vaccinated. We are tracing their contacts and have increased sampling in Vrindavan. We took 400 samples on Tuesday from different ashrams, including 100 samples from ISKCON temple housing foreign nationals in Vrindavan,” she said

“The ambit of tracing has been widened and number of samples in a day has now gone beyond 2000 in Mathura district,” informed Dr Bhoodev, deputy CMO in Mathura, a religious city 150 kilometres from Delhi which attracts many foreign devotees.

With the threat of the new Covid variant Omicron looming large, all nine samples are being sent to Lucknow for genome sequencing.

Omicron (B.1.1.529), SARS-CoV-2 variant, has been designated a “variant of concern” by World Health Organisation (WHO) after being traced in South Africa, Botswana and Hong Kong, besides other nations.

“These Covid -19 infected tourist had arrived in India in the middle of November and were staying at Girdhar Dham, Sheetal Chayya Mandir, in Vrindavan. The ashram has been declared a containment zone and those infected are placed in isolation in the ashram,” said Dr Bhoodev.

Surprisingly, three out of these nine testing positive have gone back to their countries, apparently by obtaining negative reports from some private labs. They include a man from Switzerland and two Russian devotees who left after giving their samples but before their report came.