Omicron: Vigil back at Panitanki on Indo-Nepal border, Boy with omicron discharged from Malda hospital

SANKHA GHOSH, SNS, SILIGURI , 16 DECEMBER 21 ; Amid concerns over Omicron, the new variant of coronavirus, the Darjeeling district administration and the health department have stepped up surveillance along the IndoNepal border at Panitanki near Siliguri.

West Bengal recorded its first Omicron variant yesterday, when a seven-year-old boy who had arrived in Malda from Abu Dhabi, via Hyderahad, had tested positive for the strain.

According to the Darjeeling district magistrate, S Ponnambalam, surveillance has been increased and the health department had been screening people at the imamigration check post near Panitanki, the border town on the Indian side.

"We are keeping a close surveillance at Panitanki along the Indo-Nepal border, following the advent of the latest variant of Sars-CoV-2-Omicron. The people are screened properly at the lCP while the Rapid Antigen Tests (RAT) and RT-PCR are also being conducted," he said.

The district's chief medical officer of health, Dr TuIsi Pramanik, said the initiative had been launched from 9 December.

"Till yesterday, we have screened 6,800 people. A total of 800 people have undergone RAT and RT-PCR tests," Dr Pramanik said.

Movement of people through the international border had been suspended following the outbreak of Covid19 in March last year. However, normal movement resumed in October this year.

Thousands of people cross the border every day and most visitors from Nepal come to India for medical treatment, to meet their relatives, for jobs, or shopping at the weekly market at Naxalbari. Indians also visit Eastern Nepal for jobs as daily wage earners, while hundreds of lorries enter through the border as one of the principal transit points.

As per the Indo-Nepal Friendship Treaty, 1950, nationals of either country can travel across the borders without having to produce any travel document.

Meanwhile, the officer on special duty for public health in north Bengal, Dr Susanta Kumar Roy, said the health department had stepped up vigil forCmid-19 in the region and was monitoring the situation.

"We are appealing to people to not let their guard down. People should adhere to the Covid protocols rigorously like wearing masks, sanitizing their hands and maintaining physical distance. They should undergo Covid tests if they display symptoms," Dr Roy said.

According to him, the Covid positivity rate in north Bengal was .03 percent. The positivity rate is a measure of the number of samples that test positive out of all samples tested in a day.

However, many health experts have expressed concern over the significant decline in the average daily tests in some districts.

Amid the global concern about the new strain, the Centre has already asked the states to enhance surveillance and testing; while also investigating all clusters of cases.

Boy with omicron discharged from Malda hospital

SNS, MALDA,16 DECEMBER : To the great relief of health department officials and people, a seven-year-old child who had been found carrying the Omicron variant of Covid19 has tested negative for coronavirus, officials said. The child and his family members had been taken to the Malda Medical College and Hospital on the instructions of the health department. In addition, the health department collected saliva from the infected child and his family for the second time.

The Malda Medical College and Hospital said today that the child's saliva had tested negative for the virus. Also, other family members were discharged front the Malda Medical College Hospital as their reports were also negative, sources said.

However, the family members claimed that they had earlier tested from a private institution in Malda. They claimed that they had been harassed even after health department officials informed them that their report was negative.

Principal of the MMCH Dr Partha Pratim Mukherjee said, "Everyone in the family, including the child, was discharged from the MMCH at noon. There is no reason to worry and everyone of the family is in good health."