All eight tourists from Chinsurah of Hooghly district, including the trio who had travelled from the UK, have been tested negative for Covid-19, much to the relief of the district health officials and tourism stakeholders of Alipurduar district.

Also, the five employees who are posted at the resort of West Bengal Forest Development Corporation (WBFDC) in Rajabhatkhawa of Buxa Tiger Reserve where these tourists had checked in have also been tested negative.

On Thursday, a health team had rushed to the resort after they had been informed by the state health officials that three persons who had got to the property had travelled from the United Kingdom on the same flight in which the youth of Calcutta who was found infected with the mutant strain of Covid-19, had boarded.

They had collected samples of the entire group and also of the staff who work at the resort and had served the tourists.

All of them were asked to stay at the resort and entry or exit of people was halted at the property.

“We had initially conducted a rapid antigen test and all the samples were tested negative. Even then, we waited for RT-PCR reports and received the same last night. It is a relief that all of them have been found negative,” said Girish Chandra Bera, the chief medical officer of health of Alipurduar.

After getting the reports, the department withdrew the restriction imposed on the group and the five employees on Thursday.

“The tourists have been told that they can travel as per their schedule. We have also sent an instruction to all tourist accommodations of the district to obtain travel history of people before they check in,” Bera added.

The tourism sector in the region was hit by the novel coronavirus and the resultant lockdown