Bengal: Two returnees test positive for Covid-19, samples sent for genome sequencing

A senior health department official confirmed that two persons, who returned to the city from abroad on Sunday morning, tested positive for COVID-19 and their samples have been sent for genome sequencing to ascertain whether they are infected with the coronavirus. Omicron version of or not. The official said samples have also been collected from the parents of both—an 11-year-old boy and a 19-year-old man—and sent for genome sequencing. A Swedish national of Indian origin has been admitted to the hospital, while a teenager from London has been kept in home isolation. Meanwhile, West Bengal on Sunday reported nine more deaths due to COVID-19, one more than the previous day’s figure, taking the toll to 19,669, a health department bulletin said. .

Of the fresh fatalities, four are reported in North 24 Parganas, followed by three in Kolkata and one each in Hooghly and Purba Medinipur districts. The tally rose to 16,27,076 with 565 new cases reported during the day, nine more than on Saturday. Out of 565, 174 fresh infections were reported in the city, it said. The discharge rate remained at 98.33 per cent after 568 more people were cured of the disease in the last 24 hours. So far 15,99,918 people have recovered from the disease in the state. The number of active cases came down from 7,501 on Saturday to 7,489. 36,829 samples have been tested in the state since Saturday, taking the total number of such diagnostic tests to 2,10,04,482.