The samples of 13 people, who had come in contact with a coronavirus positive patient in Maharashtra’s Nagpur, were sent for test on Thursday, officials said.

The city had reported its first positive case of coronavirus on Wednesday after the IT professional, who had come from the United States on March 6 and got himself admitted at Mayo General Hospital.

His throat swabs were sent for the test and at around 9pm on Wednesday it came back positive. He is currently under treatment at the local government-run Mayo Hospital.

The samples of three others, who were admitted to the Government Medical College and Hospital, have also been sent for test. There are three other cases in the city, taking the total number of suspected patients in Nagpur to 16.

“The IT professional’s relatives, including wife and daughter, have also been admitted to the hospital and their samples were sent for test,” Dr Sajal Mitra, dean of the Government Medical College, said.

“We are expecting their report by late night or tomorrow (Friday). They have been kept in the hospital under observation,” Dr Mitra added.

The man did not show any symptom initially but developed a fever, which he thought could be because of jet lag but it persisted. He came to Mayo Hospital on Wednesday morning and doctors advised him to get admitted and his throat swab samples were sent for test.

His daughter, a Class 8 student in a CBSE school in a west Nagpur locality, had stopped attending classes for the last three days. When the parents of other students came to know that her father had tested positive for coronavirus, they approached the school management for sanitisation of the school immediately or suspend the classes.

The management agreed to sanitise all the classes and also tried to convince other parents on the issue by writing a letter in this regard.

District collector Ravindra Thakre and the deputy director of health services Dr Sanjay Jaiswal have asked people not to panic but take care by following all guidelines issued from time to time by health bodies.

Nagpur University has decided not to hold seminars, workshops, conferences by any of its departments or affiliated colleges to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Dr Neeraj Khaty, the registrar of the university, said the decision was taken after the district collector advised them not to hold such gatherings in coming days in view of the prevailing situation.

There are 14 confirmed coronavirus cases—including nine are from Pune, three from Mumbai and one each from Thane and Nagpur—in the state.

The Maharashtra government has also announced a series of measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray asked district administrations to cancel all government programmes and not allow gatherings for political and religious events.