British Actress Banita Sandhu tested positive for novel coronavirus after arriving Kolkata. Banita who primarily works in Indian films, came Kolkata via London, Dubai for her latest film shoot. She was stranded inside ambulance over 4 hours at Beliaghata ID hospital as she denied to admit in the special COVID hospital. Later she was admitted in a private hospital in Kolkata. Banita was later admitted to Medica Superspecialty Hospital. It is not clear why this option was not offered to her earlier. Before leaving Beliaghata ID hospital, the actress was made to sign a declaration that she was unwilling to get admitted there as 'she felt the medical establishment lacked infrastructure'.
Sandhu, who co-starred with Varun Dhawan in 'October', was counselled several times by senior doctors of the hospital but their efforts went in vain.
Eventually, with the permission of the health department, she was admitted to a private hospital and she has been kept in an isolated cabin there.
Steps have been taken to get the genetic analysis of her samples to ascertain whether she has been infected with the mutant coronavirus strain, Variant of Concern 202012/01 (VOC-202012/01). 'We will be sending her samples for genetic analysis to Kalyani's National Institute of Biomedical Genomics to ensure whether the actress is infected with the new strain of the coronavirus or not. After that we will follow the necessary protocol once the result is out,' one official said.
Banita came Kolkata for English feature film 'Kavita&Teresa' shooting. She made her film debut in the 2018 Hindi film October. 'Kavita & Teresa' by Swiss-Indian filmmaker Kamal Musale is about love and compassion inspired by the life of Mother Teresa.