India's coronavirus cases near 30, hits major payments firm

FILE PHOTO: Medical staff with protective clothing are seen inside a ward specialised in receiving any person who may have been infected with coronavirus, at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General hospital in Chennai, India, January 29, 2020. REUTERS/P. Ravikumar/File Photo

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The total number of known coronavirus cases in India rose sharply to 29 on Wednesday, including 16 Italian tourists who had tested positive for the disease as well as an employee of a digital payments company who had travelled to Italy.

On Monday, the world's second-most populous country had only six reported cases of coronavirus, but it is one of the places U.S. intelligence agencies are most closely monitoring due to fears over how it would cope with a widespread outbreak.