Actress Banita Sandhu, who arrived in Calcutta from the UK via Dubai on Sunday and tested positive for Covid-19, declined to get admitted to the Beleghata Infectious Diseases Hospital and sought a better facility, police sources said.

The 23-year-old actress, the sources said, remained seated inside an ambulance outside the hospital for an hour on Monday, with her production team seeking a cabin with an attached toilet for her.

Banita was later admitted to Medica Superspecialty Hospital. It is not clear why this option was not offered to her earlier.

In the initial stages when the coronavirus was detected in Bengal, all patients had to go to a handful of hospitals, including the Beleghata hospital. However, as the numbers climbed and the initial panic subsided, the patients were given multiple choices, including hotels.

The Bengal administration is now on high alert over the mutated strain of the virus found in the UK and, hence, designated Beleghata as the sole hospital for passengers arriving from Europe and testing positive for Covid-19. The Beleghata hospital ward earmarked for such patients does not have bath-attached rooms for single patients.

An official at Medica said Banita, who has booked a cabin, would remain isolated from all other patients, including those suffering from Covid.

Banita had travelled to Dubai from the UK on December 27. She came to Calcutta from Dubai on Sunday. Banita holds a UK passport, an official said.

“She was taken to Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute (CNCI) in New Town, a facility for Covid patients, for a Covid test from the airport as she had travel history from the UK. She tested positive for Covid-19 and was put up at CNCI on Sunday,” a health department official said.

Ajay Chakraborty, the director of state health services, said anyone arriving from a European country is being taken to CNCI for an RT-PCR test for Covid. “If the person tests positive, then he or she is being taken to Beleghata ID Hospital,” he said.

Sources at the Beleghata hospital said 50 beds for men and as many for women have been set aside for those testing positive for Covid-19 after arriving from Europe.

“Fifty of the 100 beds are general beds. The rest are high dependency unit (HDU) beds. Anyone who tests positive will first be kept on a general bed. If a further test reveals the person is carrying the mutated strain, then he or she will be shifted to an HDU bed,” said a doctor at the hospital.

Swab samples of people testing positive for Covid-19 after arriving from Europe, directly or via other countries, are being sent to the National Institute of Biomedical Genomics in Kalyani for a genetic analysis to detect the presence of the mutated strain.