A man in his 70s who had come from Bangladesh and tested positive for Covid was admitted to Beleghata ID Hospital early on Saturday.
His samples will be sent for genome sequencing to ascertain if he has been infected by the Omicron strain, senior officials of the state health department said on Saturday.
Earlier on Friday, an 18-year-old girl was admitted to a private hospital after she tested positive at the Calcutta airport after coming from the United Kingdom.
An official of the private hospital said on Saturday that the girl was fine and had only a cold and cough.
The man in his 70s, a resident of Barasat, was coming via the Petrapole border on Thursday where his samples were collected. He tested positive for Covid when the results arrived on Friday.
“We admitted the man to Beleghata ID Hospital immediately after his results arrived,” said an official of the health department.
An official of the hospital said that the man was stable and had no serious symptoms.
“He was admitted around 1am on Saturday, said the official.
Bangladesh is not in the list of “at-risk” countries identified by the Union government. But a senior official of the health department said that 2 per cent of people arriving from countries that are not identified as at-risk have to undergo Covid test after their arrival in India. The rule applies for arrivals through airport and land borders.
“These are random tests done on 2 per cent of people who come from countries not in the at-risk list. For countries that are in the at-risk list it is mandatory for all persons arriving to undergo a Covid test,” said a health department official.
“The man’s samples will be sent for genome sequencing to the National Institute of Biomedical Genomics at Kalyani on Monday,” said an official of the Beleghata ID Hospital.
Though the man came from a country that is not in the list of at-risk countries, he was sent to the hospital as there is a chance of his coming in contact with someone in Bangladesh who had been to an at-risk country.
“Many people in Bangladesh have come back from countries where the Omicron strain has spread considerably. This man may have come in contact with someone who could have been infected by the strain. To ensure whether he has Omicron strain or not, his samples will be tested. Till then he will be in institutional quarantine so that no one else gets infected from him,” said the official.