7 more foreign nationals test Covid positive in Gaya, samples sent for genome sequencing

According to officials, all foreign travellers were asymptomatic and tested randomly at the Gaya international airport

Patna: Seven foreign nationals from Myanmar and Thailand on Monday tested positive for Covid-19 in Bihar’s Gaya, taking the case tally in the district to 12 in the last three days, officials said, adding their samples have been sent for genome sequencing to ascertain the variant of virus.

A healthcare worker collects a swab sample from a passenger at railway station in Patna on Monday. (ANI)

According to officials, all foreign travellers were asymptomatic and tested randomly at the Gaya international airport. “Seven people, all from Thailand and Myanmar, tested positive for Covid-19 on Monday,” said Dr Arjun Choudhary, principal, Anugrah Narayan Magadh Medical College and Hospital, where the RT-PCR tests were done.

“All positive samples have been sent to Patna’s Indira Gandhi institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) for genome sequencing to ascertain the variant of the virus,” he said.

Another 13 samples were being tested at the hospital at time of going to the press on Monday.

On Sunday, four foreign nationals — three from Thailand and one from Myanmar — tested positive, said Gaya’s civil surgeon Dr Ranjan Kumar Singh, adding that a 60-year-old woman from the UK tested positive for Covid-19 on December 24. She has since returned to her country.

“We have isolated two foreigners (both from Bangkok) in their hotel rooms at Bodh Gaya,” said Singh. “One from Myanmar had already left for Srinagar via Delhi before we got the RT-PCR test report on Sunday. However, we immediately alerted the Delhi airport authorities about the foreigner who tested positive.”

He added: “Since they were all asymptomatic and looked absolutely normal, we did not consider them Covid-19 suspects and allowed them to go,” the civil surgeon said.

Singh further said that the third Thai national, who tested positive on Sunday, was untraceable. “The cellphone number mentioned in the testing form is switched off,” he added.

According to officials, a large number of foreign nationals are visiting Bodh Gaya to attend Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama’s discourses scheduled from December 29 to 31. Tourists, especially Buddhist followers and Lamas, from around 50 countries have registered online to attend his discourses.

“Around 20,000 foreign devotees have already registered for the programme,” said an official familiar with the matter, requesting anonymity.

Gaya district magistrate Thiyagarajan SM did not respond to calls or text message on his cellphone. He, however, has appealed to people to follow Covid-appropriate behaviour, including wearing masks and maintaining social distancing, in the wake of surge in cases in China and some other countries.

He has also instructed the organisers to allow only those who have undergone RT-PCR test to meet the Dalai Lama.