Patient zero: Health dept starts process to identify persons he had come in contact with

Kolkata: A day after the teenager son of a senior state government official tested positive for novel Coronavirus at Beliaghata ID Hospital, around three days after his return from London, the state Health department has started the process of identifying the ones whom the victim might have come in close contact with.

The Health department has reportedly sought a list from the airport authorities of the passengers who had boarded the same flight while returning to the city on March 15.

Senior health officials are keen on identifying the persons whom the victim had met since last Sunday till Tuesday morning, when he was finally admitted to Beliaghata ID Hospital. The officials are tracking the places he had visited since his return.

The victim's mother, who is a senior official at the state Home department, has also been kept at the isolation ward of Beliaghata ID Hospital, along with her husband, their driver and two attendants.

However, the preliminary swab test report of the victim's parents and their driver came in negative, giving a major sigh of relief to the Health department. According to sources, their swab samples may be sent to a different lab for verification.

It has been learnt that the teenager had visited the Beliaghata ID Hospital on March 16, after his return to the city on March 15. However, he refused to get admitted despite suggestions by the hospital for doing so.

He left the hospital and later went to M R Bangur Hospital for check-up, where he consulted a doctor. He was eventually taken to Beliaghata ID Hospital on Wednesday and kept under isolation. A paramedical staff of M R Bangur has also been kept under isolation.

The swab samples of both of them have been sent for tests. Senior officials of M R Bangur had asked the boy to go to Beliaghata ID Hospital as he was showing suspected symptoms. However, the victim went home without paying any heed to the hospital officials. M R Bangur subsequently carried out a sanitisation drive.

The teenager then went to a shopping mall in South Kolkata and visited many places in Central Kolkata, soon after his return to the city on Sunday. According to Beliaghata ID Hospital authorities, the health condition of the teenager is stable now. However, he has been kept under round-the-clock observation.

"Temperature of the victim is being checked every hour. He has been kept in a fully sanitised isolation chamber. The doctors and nurses who are attending the patient are fully equipped. Nobody from outside is given access even close to the chamber where he has been kept. He has been kept inside the negative pressure room and measures have been taken so that virus is not spread through the ventilated air," a senior official of Beliaghata ID Hospital said.

In another development, three persons have been admitted to

the Beliaghata ID Hospital on Wednesday, while one youth has been shifted to R G Kar Medical College and Hospital.

It has been learnt that a 21-year-old youth, who has returned to the city from London on Wednesday morning, was found to be suffering from fever during thermal screening at the Kolkata Airport. He was taken to Beliaghata ID Hospital and his swab samples have been sent for tests. He is among the three admitted to the hospital on Wednesday.