India has confirmed its first two coronavirus-related deaths.
A 68-year-old woman from Delhi, who had underlying health conditions, has died of the bug, the BBC reported Friday.
The woman was likely infected by her son, who traveled to Italy and Switzerland last month, according to the report.
A 79-year-old man also has died from the virus, after returning from a month-long visit to Saudi Arabia in late February, the network reported.
When he returned home, he was screened at the airport but showed no symptoms. As the illness developed last week, he was taken to the hospital, where he died Tuesday, although the case was not reported until two days later.
Officials are working on tracking down and quarantining anyone who may have had contact with the man, according to the state’s health minister.
There have been concerns over whether India has the ability to handle a large-scale coronavirus outbreak.





But the country’s health ministry shot down allegations that it was slow in testing suspected cases and argued it was among the first countries in the world to prepare for a COVID-19 outbreak, according to the BBC.
“Our surveillance system is strong, and we are able to quickly identify any symptomatic patients,” RR Gangakhedkar of the Indian Council of Medical Research said Thursday.



