Kolkata, Dec 22 (IANS): Five Covid-19 positive cases have been reported from West Bengal during the last 24 hours.

Among the five affected cases, three are hospitalised, while two are under home isolation. Among the three hospitalised, one is a six-month old child, who came from Bihar to West Bengal with his parents. The child is currently kept in ventilation.

The other two who are hospitalised are reportedly having comorbidities, informed sources from the state health department.

Sources from the state health department said the genome sequencing of all five of them will be done to trace whether these are the cases of new sub-variant JN.1. The forthcoming festival seasons of Christmas and New Year, which might result in the gathering of large numbers of people at a place and at a time, have become a major concern for the state health department.

State health department sources said that from Wednesday onwards there has been renewed stress on conducting RT-PCR tests following a direction of the state chief secretary, H.K. Dwivedi.

From Wednesday morning till Thursday evening a total of 193 RT-PCR tests have been conducted.

Sources from the state health department said that as a matter of precaution keeping the forthcoming festive season in mind, the state government has already directed a couple of state-run hospitals to reserve some beds, including some in the ICU, for people getting admitted after being tested Covid-19 positive.