Nigeria returnee tests positive for COVID in Bengal; samples collected for genome sequencing

A 69-year-old Nigeria returnee has tested positive for COVID-19 in West Bengal, following which his sample was collected for genome sequencing to ascertain whether he contracted the new Omicron variant of coronavirus, an official said on Saturday. The patient is undergoing treatment at a private hospital here.

His sample has been collected by the Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine and will be sent for genome sequencing on Monday, the official said.

"The man had returned from Nigeria on December 13. He had symptoms of COVID-19. His sample was tested the next day and he was admitted to a private hospital in south Kolkata. His wife, who came along with him, had tested negative," he said.


His driver and another person came in contact with him, and their samples will be tested on Sunday.

"Contact tracing exercise is underway at this moment," the official said.

West Bengal had on Wednesday reported its first Omicron case after a seven-year-old boy, who returned from Abu Dhabi via Hyderabad, tested positive for the variant.

Two more persons - one woman from the UK and another from Bangladesh, were kept in institutional quarantine after they were found infected with COVID-19. They had tested negative for the new Omicron strain.