Infected US tourist took seven-day Brahmaputra tour

GUWAHATI/NEWDELHI:A Faridabadbased adventure tour company confirmed on Friday that a US citizen who tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Bhutan and his partner were among four foreign travellers and 37 crew who had been on a seven-day cruise on the Brahmaputra river just before he flew to the Himalayan country.

According to tweets by the editor of a Bhutan newspaper, the 76-year-old US tourist had come to India on February 21 with his 59-year-old partner and had travelled to Mumbai, Kolkata and Assam, before boarding Drukair flight KB241 to Paro in Bhutan from Guwahati on March 2.

The US tourist and his partner were two of a total of four Americans on board the vessel MV Mahabaahu that set sail on February 23 on a week-long cruise of the Brahmaputra, said Sanjay Basu, CEO of the Faridabadbased Adventure River Cruises, which operates the vessel.

The rest of 37 persons on board were crew members, he said.

On Friday, Bhutan Prime Minister’s Office announced that the US tourist had tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

The patient’s partner and eight other Indians who travelled to Bhutan on the same flight have been quarantined in the country. The flight had a total of 10 passengers.

“We are aware that the US citizen was in Assam as well,” said Anurag Goel, commissioner and secretary of the health and family welfare department of Assam. “We are trying to collect that data and find out about the persons he came in contact with,” he added, referring to the procedure known as contact tracing.