Kolkata doctor with no travel history tests positive for Omicron

A 21-year-old junior doctor at the Calcutta Medical College hospital in Kolkata with no international travel history tested positive for the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. West Bengal's Omicron tally has now reached four with the addition of this case.

The junior doctor had complained of fever after which his sample was sent for COVID-19 testing as well as genome sequencing, according to authorities. The test report came back positive for Omicron on Friday night, India Today reported.

The patient has been shifted to Kolkata's Beleghata Infectious Diseases hospital. The junior doctor hails from Krishnanagar in Nadia district.

West Bengal had reported its first Omicron cases on December 15. A 7-year-old boy, who had returned from Abu Dhabi, had tested positive for the Omircon variant of the virus.

The state reported two more Omicron cases on December 23. One of the patients was a returnee from Nigeria and other from the United Kingdom.

The state government has decided to send samples of every Covid-19 positive case recorded in Kolkata for genome sequencing for the Omicron variant of the virus.

Meanwhile, a total number of 415 cases of Omicron have been detected in India so far, out of which 115 have recovered or migrated, according to the Union Health Ministry's data updated on Saturday.

Maharashtra has recorded a maximum of 108 Omicron cases, followed by Delhi at 79, Gujarat 43, Telangana 38, Kerala 37, Tamil Nadu 34 and Karnataka 31.

The country's COVID-19 tally rose to 3,47,79,815 with 7,189 fresh cases in the last 24 hours, while the active cases have declined to 77,032, according to the data updated at 8 am. The death toll climbed to 4,79,520 with 387 more fatalities, the data showed.

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