The state health department has sought Elisa test kits for chikungunya from the National Institute of Virology (NIV), and these are likely to arrive on Saturday.

The School of Tropical Medicine (STM), Calcutta, will get two Elisa kits, each having the capacity to test 90 blood samples. “The NIV was requested six months ago to supply the kits but they were not providing it,” said STM director D.K. Neogi.

On Thursday, Neogi spoke to the NIV authorities and sought the kits, following the outbreak of chikungunya in Habra, North 24-Parganas.

State health department sources said three dengue cases were reported on Thursday, of which two were from the city — at Tiljala and Dum Dum — and the third was from Nadia.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Calcutta, has Elisa kits but the STM still makes use of an old, time-consuming and cumbersome, though confirmatory, process. So, said Neogi, the STM has sought the Elisa kits, which can confirm chikungunya in two days, against three to four weeks at the STM. The method has been followed since 1964, when there was an outbreak of the disease in the city.

In Habra and its adjoining areas, more than 150 new cases of fever with symptoms of chikungunya were detected. According to the district health authorities, the total number of people with fever, joint pain and other symptoms of chikungunya had crossed 1,000. In Calcutta, there are no new cases.

Health minister Surjya Kanta Mishra said the situation was not alarming in the state.