Fears over BF.7 variant: Briton isolated, sample sent for genome testing

Also, an Indian citizen travelling back back from abroad was suspected to be infected with the virus following a test at the Kolkata airport. An official said, “The passenger from Bihar’s Darbhanga returned from Bangkok yesterday. He has gone back home on his own,”

The official said an RT-PCR test was conducted on the British national and the result is awaited. “The health department will be monitoring the health of the other 30-odd passengers who travelled on the same flight with the woman who was scheduled to travel to Bodh Gaya. We are waiting for the RTPCR report and will take action accordingly,” said the official.

Meanwhile, the health department officials held a meeting with representatives of medical institutes on Monday and decided that three hospitals in the city would be used for Covid-19 treatment purpose if the number of cases rises.

Beliaghta ID Hospital, MR Bangur Hospital and Shambhunath Pandit Hospital have been identified for the purpose. Also, each district in the state will identify one hospital for the treatment of Covid-19 patients, if the situation arises. Three persons tested positive for coronavirus in the state on Monday, taking the tally to 21,18,589 since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, the health department said in a bulletin.

There was no death due to the disease and the toll remained unchanged at 21,532.

Five patients recovered from the disease during the day, taking the number of cured people to 20,97,006. The state now has 51 active cases and 42 of them are in home isolation while nine are undergoing treatment at hospitals.

A total of 3,364 samples were tested for Covid-19 in the state since Sunday.