BHUBANESWAR: The father of the four-year-old girl who had tested positive for Covid after her arrival from the UK on December 20 has also tested positive for the virus.
This leaves the city with three UK returnees who have tested positive for Covid.
The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) commissioner, Prem Chandra Chaudhury, said the father’s first test had returned negative. “He later developed symptoms and underwent a second test conducted by the Regional Medical Research Centre. This returned positive for Covid. The man has been taken to SUM hospital,” he told TOI.
So far, 20 people who arrived in the city from the UK recently have been traced and tested. The health of the other 17 people are being monitored by the Rapid Response Teams of the BMC.
The BMC will send a third sample of the girl’s father to the NIV, Pune, for genome sequencing. “It will take time to get the result of the genome sequencing. This will help us ascertain the strain of the virus,” he added.
The city on Sunday reported 16 fresh Covid positive cases against 41 new recoveries. Out of the 16 new cases, nine were found from home quarantine and seven are local contact cases. With 30,995 recoveries so far and 238 deaths, the city now has 301 active cases. Its total Covid count jumped to 31,555.
Despite the drop in daily case count, the BMC is testing 1,500-1,700 samples daily. As a result, the case positivity rate has remained below two per cent. The BMC officials said the rate of testing would remain unchanged in winter.