The 18-year-old girl who was admitted to a private hospital in the city on Friday after she tested positive for Covid on arrival from the United Kingdom was not infected by Omicron, a health department official said on Monday.
She was infected by the Delta-plus variant.
“We have received the report of the international traveller from the UK. The detected variant is Delta-plus (AY.4.) that is also prevalent in the state. Omicron was not detected in this sample,” said Ajay Chakraborty, director of the state health services.
An official of the private hospital, where the woman was admitted, said on Monday that her condition was fine.
“She has no symptoms. She is likely to be discharged tomorrow,” said the official. “The woman has taken both doses of a Covid vaccine.”
After the woman tested positive on arrival at Kolkata airport she was sent to a state government-run hospital, from where she was shifted to the private hospital.
Her samples were sent to National Institute of Biomedical Genomics in Kalyani in Nadia district, around 65km north of Kolkata, for genome sequencing to ascertain whether she was infected by the highly transmissible omicron variant. The results arrived on Monday.
A 76-year-old man tested positive for Covid on Saturday, after his return from Bangladesh. He has been admitted to Beliaghata Infectious Diseases Hospital. His samples have been sent to the Kalyani institute for genome sequencing. The results were yet to arrive on Monday.
Officials in the state health department said all passengers from countries the Union government has identified as at-risk for Omicron must undergo a Covid test on arrival in India. The UK is an at-risk country but Bangladesh is not.
Two per cent of people arriving from other countries have to take the test for the disease.