The North Bengal Medical College and Hospital (NBMCH) has started witnessing the admission of Covid-19 patients after a gap of six months and for the first time this year.

The hospitalisation comes at a time when there is a spike in Covid-19 cases in various parts of the country.

On Friday morning, the Union ministry of health and family welfare reported 28,303 positive cases in the country.

Sources at the NBMCH said a two-month-old child and a 58-year-old man had been admitted with Covid.

“The child was diagnosed with septicaemia, along with Covid. The infant from Cooch Behar was the first Covid patient to be admitted this year,” said a hospital source.

The child, who was admitted on Monday, was kept in the paediatric Covid ward and was discharged on Friday evening.

The other patient is from Meteli in Jalpaiguri district. Meteli is about 60km from Jalpaiguri.

Sushanta Roy, the officer on special duty for public health in north Bengal, asked people not to panic and said except for the two patients, there were no records of fresh Covid cases in the region.

“Since Puja, this is the first time that someone has been admitted with Covid to the NBMCH. We request people not to panic but to take all safety measures,” said Roywho added that the government was monitoring the situation.

Sanjay Mallick, the superintendent of the NBMCH, said: “The child who was admitted on Monday was discharged this evening while the condition of the other patient is also stable.”

The Sikkim government has published an advisory on Covid-19 after a dozen cases were reported in the state.

“In view of the recent surge of Covid-19 in the state, some precautionary measures like wearing masks, maintaining hand hygiene, covering nose and mouth while sneezing, avoiding crowded places, and social distancing have been advised,” said a source.