The boy recently returned to West Bengal from Abu Dhabi via Hyderabad. (Representational)
The seven-year-old boy, who is the first person of West Bengal to have tested positive for the Omicron variant of Covid-19, and his family members were discharged from a hospital in Malda district on Thursday after they tested negative for the virus, a health department official said.
The boy recently returned to West Bengal from Abu Dhabi via Hyderabad. He had left for a relative's place at Kaliachak in Malda district from Kolkata airport. He was admitted to the Malda Medical College and Hospital along with his sister and parents.
"The seven-year-old child and all those who came in touch with him were found negative today. As per norm, the child and his sister, parents and grandmother have been discharged from the hospital. They will be kept in home quarantine for another week," he said.
On Thursday, a middle-aged man, who was found infected with COVID-19 in West Bengal after returning from Bangladesh, tested negative for the Omicron variant of coronavirus.
The patient contracted the Delta strain of coronavirus, the official said.
The man, a resident of Barasat in North 24 Parganas district, was found positive for the disease on December 10, and his sample was sent for genome sequencing to ascertain whether he had contracted the new Omicron variant, which has been classified as a highly transmissible virus of concern.
"He is likely to be discharged from Beleghata ID and BG Hospital tomorrow," the official said.
Earlier, a woman, who was also found infected with COVID-19 after coming from the UK, had tested negative for the Omicron strain.
Meanwhile, the coronavirus deaths in West Bengal rose to 19,645 after 12 more people succumbed to the disease on Thursday, the health department said. The tally also went up by 660 to be at 16,25,375, it added.
Since Wednesday, 662 recoveries have been reported in the state taking the total number of cured people to 15,98,224, the department added. The number of active cases currently is 7,506.
In the last 24 hours, 37,115 samples have been tested pushing the total number of such clinical examinations in the state to 2,08,88,936.
Over 2.70 lakh of Covid-19 vaccine doses were administered in West Bengal on Thursday, an official said.