Students from Kota reached Kolkata on May 1. (Photo by Partha Paul)

Seven people, including two teenage boys and two women in their forties, who returned to the state from the city of Ajmer in Rajasthan earlier this week on a special train, and a student brought back from Kota tested positive for the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) on Saturday.

The seven Ajmer returnees are residents of Harishchandrapur-I block of Malda district, while the student is from Howrah district’s Sankrail area, according to officials.

In total, around 1,100 people came back from Ajmer. “Three days ago, 279 persons came back from Ajmer to Malda. Most of them are residents of Hrishchandrapur-I block. All were strictly sent to quarantine. After they tested positive we sent their families also to quarantine,” said a Health Department official.

The seven have been admitted to a private hospital in Malda town that was recently turned into a facility dedicated to treating Covid-19 patients.

The Kota student has been admitted to an isolation ward in a hospital in Howrah city’s Salkia Golabari area. She was among the 2,368 students who returned to the state on May 1 from the Rajasthani city that is a coaching hub for medical and engineering degree aspirants. Out of them, 93 came back to Howrah district.

The student’s family members claimed she had been in home quarantine since her return.

“Our process to trace, identify and quarantine all persons who recently came in contact with the student is underway. We are not taking any risk,” said a senior health official. “All those who came back from Kota have been put under mandatory 14-day home surveillance.”