Three Dibrugarh University students test positive for COVID-19

The samples have been sent to the CSIR-North East Institute of Science and Technology (NEIST) in Jorhat for whole-genome sequencing.

Amid the rise in COVID-19 cases in the country, three African students from Dibrugarh University have now tested positive. The samples of three students have been sent for whole-genome sequencing, as per the officials. While two students have tested positive for the Omicron strain in a kit developed by the Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC), NE of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in Dibrugarh, the test result of the third one is still awaited.

“After the samples tested Omicron positive in our kit on Tuesday, we then carried out ‘targeted sequencing’, which confirmed the test results,” an ICMR source said, as reported by The Print.

The samples have been sent to the CSIR-North East Institute of Science and Technology (NEIST) in Jorhat for whole-genome sequencing. International Affairs Executive Officer Arinjit Hazarika of Dibrugarh University said an MCom student from Comoros recently returned from his country and tested positive for COVID-19.

“His two roommates, hailing from Nigeria and Lesotho, in the international hostel also tested positive for COVID-19, and the trio was isolated in the hostel itself, which houses 22 foreign students,” he said.

The ICMR source said that the students from Comoros and Lesotho tested positive for Omicron in their kit.

On December 26, a man and his four family members returning from Nigeria and their domestic help had tested Omicron positive in the RMRC kit, and their samples were sent for whole-genome sequencing, the results of which are awaited. The RMRC kit can detect the Omicron strain in just two hours. The development is significant as a minimum of 36 hours is required for targeted sequencing and 4-5 days for whole-genome sequencing to detect the variant.

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