At least four foreigners — three from England and one from Myanmar — have been found Covid-19 positive in Gaya, setting off the alarm bells at a time Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama is present at Bodh Gaya to give discourses and participate in Buddhist rituals.

Several thousand devotees from different states and countries are expected to attend the Dalai Lama’s programme, scheduled later this month.

The infected people had also come to attend the programme but were isolated at the hotel they had booked for their stay.

“Four Covid-19 positive cases have been detected in Gaya. They all are foreign nationals. One is from Myanmar, one is from Thailand but a UK citizen and two are from England. They all are asymptomatic and have been isolated in their hotel,” Gaya district magistrate Thiyagarajan S.M. told The Telegraph.

“We are conducting the tests for coronavirus at the Gaya International Airport continuously. We received information about the four Covid-19 positive persons on Sunday. We are yet to get Monday’s report. We are alert and taking all precautions,” Thiyagarajan added.

District administration officials said that the four people found positive had arrived on December 20. Their samples for RT-PCR tests were taken at the airport on their arrival, but the test reports came on December 25.

Samples have also been sent to labs for genome sequencing to find out the virus’s strain.