Kolkata: A British national and an Indian coming from abroad were suspected to be infected with Covid-19 following a rapid antigen test at the Netaji Subhas Chandra International Airport here, a senior official of the West Bengal Health Department said Monday. The British woman, aged around 42 years, has been shifted to an isolation ward of the state-run Infectious Diseases & Beleghata General Hospital in Beliaghata here, the officer informed.
The sample of the British woman has been sent for genome sequencing at the National Institute of Biomedical Genomics at Kalyani in West Bengal’s Nadia district to ascertain whether she is infected with the BF.7 variant of coronavirus.
The other passenger, a man from Bihar’s Darbhanga who returned from Bangkok, ‘has gone back home on his own’ from the airport, the officer said.
The woman who had landed at the airport Sunday night from Kuala Lumpur was initially kept in isolation at a hotel. However, she was shifted to the hospital Monday morning, the official said. An RT-PCR test has also been conducted on the British national and the result is awaited.
The West Bengal Health department will be monitoring the health of the other 30-odd passengers who travelled on the same flight with the British woman.
“The woman was scheduled to travel to Bodh Gaya. We are waiting for the RT-PCR report and will take action accordingly,” the official said. He added that the other man reached the city Saturday and has left for Bihar. “We have informed the surveillance team of Bihar and they are monitoring the matter,” he said.
Meanwhile, three persons tested positive Monday for coronavirus in West Bengal pushing the tally to 21,18,589 since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, a Health department bulletin said. The state now has 51 active cases, 42 of them are in home isolation and nine are undergoing treatment at hospitals, the bulletin added.