A 7-year-old boy who arrived in Malda from Abu Dhabi, via Hyderabad, has tested positive for Omicron, the first recorded case in Bengal of the coronavirus variant that is spreading fast in many countries.
A Bengal government official said the boy and his parents and younger sister arrived at the Hyderabad airport on Saturday.
“The boy’s samples were collected at the Hyderabad airport. The test came back positive. The family took a flight to Kolkata the same day. They travelled to Malda by car from Kolkata,” the official said on Wednesday.
“The report of genome sequencing, which identified the variant the child was infected with as omicron, arrived on Wednesday. By then, the boy had spent over two days at his uncle’s house in Malda’s Kaliachak.”
Kaliachak lies at a distance of around 325km north of Kolkata.
All passengers arriving from countries the Centre has marked as ‘at-risk’ for the spread of Omicron are required to take a Covid test at the point of entry. As for the fliers from the not-at-risk countries, 2 per cent of them are asked to take the test.
The protocol is that the passengers being screened for Covid can leave the airport or board a connecting flight only if the test comes back negative.
Bengal officials said they had drawn the Union health ministry’s attention to the fact that the boy and his family were allowed to board a flight from Hyderabad to Kolkata without a negative report.
“We have informed the health ministry about this matter,” said a Bengal government official.
Officials from the health department in Malda visited the family on Wednesday. The boy, his sister and father were admitted to the Malda Medical College and Hospital. “The boy is stable and has no symptoms,” said an official.
Ajay Chakraborty, director of the state health services, said the boy had tested negative for Covid on arrival in Malda.
“From a single test we cannot confirm whether he is negative or not. Two tests are required. We collected samples from the child, and his parents, sister and grandmother on Wednesday,” said Chakraborty.
“Household contacts of the boy were advised to maintain strict home isolation. Our team is working on identifying those who came in contact with the boy over the last three days.”
Chakraborty said the government had received a list of 37 co-passengers of the family on their flight from Hyderabad to Kolkata. “We have been able to contact 27 of them. None is exhibiting any symptoms yet. Sixteen of the 27 people contacted are from Bengal,” he said.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee also referred to the Omicron case and alerted residents of Bengal.
While addressing a public meeting in Phoolbagan in northeast Kolkata in support of Trinamul candidates in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation polls, she said: “Omicron case has been reported in our state as some people have reached on a flight from Abu Dhabi. The problem is that people arriving on international flights are mingling with their families… this is causing the infection…. The virulence of the Omicron variant is less but it is more contagious than other variants. We should be on alert.”
Additional reporting by Soumya De Sarkar from Malda & Alamgir Hossain from Murshidabad
