Varun Dhawan's October co-star Banita Sandhu tested COVID-19 positive. The actress is currently in Kolkata for her film shoot Kavita & Teresa. Reportedly the actress refused to take treatment in a governmet hospital after which she was taken to a private hospital. On December 20, the actor travelled from the UK and was on the same flight with the youth who had tested positive for the mutant coronavirus strain.
As per media reports, after she was tested covid positive on Monday afternoon, steps were taken to ascertain if she had been infected with a new strain of the COVID-19. To ensure measures to curb the new strain, Banita was taken to the Beliaghata Infectious Diseases Hospital where a separate unit has been set up to house those who have travelled from the UK.
However, the 23-year-old actor refused to come out of the ambulance alleging that the hospital lacked proper infrastructure. The official told the news agency, “We had to inform the state secretariat and the health department as she was unwilling to come out of the ambulance, and at one point in time, she wanted to leave. The British High Commission was informed as we cannot let her go like this which is against the protocol. We had to inform the police also. They (police personnel) came and surrounded the ambulance so that she cannot leave.”
Sandhu was counseled by the senior doctors, but she refuted to be admitted. Eventually, she was admitted to a private hospital and has been kept in an isolated cabin, with the permission of the health department. The government hospital made Banita sign a declaration that she was unwilling to get treatment at the hospital because ‘she felt the medical establishment lacked infrastructure’.
Meanwhile, Banita’s samples will be sent to Kalyani’s National Institute of Biomedical Genomics to ascertain if she is infected with mutant coronavirus strain or not.