A junior doctor at the Calcutta Medical College hospital in Kolkata, West Bengal, with no history of international travel, has tested positive for the Omicron variant of the coronavirus on Friday, 24 December, India Today reported.
This is West Bengal's fourth case of Omicron, what has been designated as a "variant of concern" by the World Health Organization.
The junior doctor, who is 21 years of age and who comes from Krishnanagar in Nadia district, was complaining of fever when his sample was sent to be tested for COVID-19.
Genome sequencing was also conducted by the labs, according to the concerned authorities.
Omicron was detected during the testing of the sample.
The doctor has now been admitted to Beleghata Infectious Diseases hospital in Calcutta.
For every positive case of COVID, the West Bengal government has decided to send the samples for genome sequencing in order to confirm the presence of the Omicron variant.
On 23 December, West Bengal had confirmed two cases of the Omicron variant.
One of the two who had tested positive had returned from the United Kingdom, a country that is now witnessing more than one lakh positive COVID cases per day.
The other person who tested positive had landed from Nigeria.
Meanwhile, 19 students of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya in Ahmednagar district of Northern Maharashtra tested positive for COVID-19 on 25 December, although none of them show any symptoms.
More than 400 cases of the Omicron variant have been recorded in India as of Saturday.
(With inputs from India Today)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)