There has been no adverse effect on the flow of tourists in Kaziranga National Park despite a high alert across Assam over the novel coronavirus outbreak, park director P. Sivakumar said.

A high alert was sounded to prevent the spread of coronavirus after a confirmed case of 76-year-old US tourist diagnosed with the disease in Bhutan. He had spent a couple of days in Assam and visited the park before leaving for the neighbouring country.

A hue and cry had been raised among the people who reportedly came in contact with the tourist. Officials, including the driver of the jeep safari, underwent tests but they tested negative for the virus.

Eastern Assam divisional forest officer Ramesh Chandra Gogoi said the flow of tourists to Kaziranga in the past three days was normal. Gogoi said the numbers of tourists in the park (domestic and foreign) are 1,605 and 39, 1,938 and 56, 1,266 and 32 on March 8 to 10. “We are on alert and taking possible precautions,” he said.

Manipur border shut

Manipur has sealed its border with Myanmar as a preventive measure to check possible threat of transmission of novel coronavirus into the state.

Special secretary, home, H. Gyan Prakash, in an order issued on Monday, notified the ban on “movement of people across the international border” and ordered the closure of gates 1 and 2 at Moreh and other crossing points along Manipur sector of Indo-Myanmar border indefinitely.

Additional reporting by Brozendra Ningomba in Imphal

Meanwhile, Tengnoupal district magistrate Mayanglambam Rajkumar has instructed the security forces guarding the border to intensify patrol to check any infiltration.