Four persons from West Bengal who had tested positive for Covid in early December were infected with the BF.7 variant, which is believed to be behind the surge in Covid cases in many countries.
Officials of the state health department said the four, all of whom had returned from the US weeks before they tested positive for Covid, were doing well and none of them reported any complications. There is no reason for panic, the officials said.
“They tested positive in early December and they are fine,” said an official.
West Bengal is still reporting less than 10 new Covid cases day, a trend that has been continuing since early December.
The state reported seven new Covid cases on Wednesday, eight on Tuesday and four on Monday. No deaths were reported.
“We are keeping a watch on the Covid numbers. There is no cause for panic right now,” said the official.
The samples of all those who had tested positive in the state in December were sent for genome sequencing towards the end of last month.
“The results arrived recently and four persons were found to have been infected with the BF.7 variant,” said an official of the state health department. “None of them is from Kolkata and three are from the same family.”
Officials did not want to reveal the addresses of the four people to avoid panic among residents of the localities.
The state health department issued a circular on December 22 asking all laboratories in the state to send all Covid positive samples of the previous month for genome sequencing.