By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, March 16, 2020: Odisha’s first Covid-19 positive man – a 33-year-old researcher at Universita degli Studi di Milano in Italy, has come in contact with at least 129 people during his journey by train from New Delhi and after his arrival in Bhubaneswar, official sources said.

The Italian was admitted to the Capital Hospital last Saturday and his swab test report late on Sunday night showed positive for novel coronavirus, state government spokesperson Subroto Bagchi said.

However, the family members of the patient raised questions on the confirmation of the test report.

“They have not drawn blood sample from my brother. The doctors only took his throat swab and nasal liquid for test. I doubt the test report,” the patient’s sister told reporters at the Capital Hospital.

However, there was no word from the state government on the allegations made by the patient’s family.

Earlier Bagchi informed that the lone Covid-19 patient in Odisha had come in contact with 53 people in the state and 76 others during his train journey from Delhi to Bhubaneswar.

The government has already identified 53 people, including the doctor and staff of a private clinic visited by the patient. They have been suggested home quarantine as a precautionary measure, Bagchi said.

Efforts are on to identify the 76 people, who were travelling in the same coach boarded by the man, who had reached Bhubaneswar last Thursday and consulted a private doctor the next day, according to the official.

The private clinic visited by the patient has also been sealed, Bagchi said.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the country rose to 114, with Odisha reporting its first Covid-19 patient and a new case each in Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Kerala, according to the Union Health Ministry.