72-yr-old man, who tested Covid positive, dies due to ‘comorbidities’

KOLKATA: Bengal reported its first Covid death in over three months as a resident of Nadia passed away on Saturday night at a government hospital in Kolkata.

It is learnt from sources in the State Health department that the deceased, Gobindo Kundu (72), a resident of Nadia district, died on Saturday night. The elderly had “multiple comorbidities”, a senior Health official said on Sunday.

He was initially admitted to a private hospital at Salt Lake in Kolkata with respiratory distress and high blood pressure. Later, he was shifted to the state-run Beleghata Infection Disease (ID) Hospital in Kolkata, where he died. The family members of the deceased said he tested positive for Covid at the private hospital.

Bengal did not witness a single case of death from Covid since December 2022. Currently, the total number of active cases in West Bengal is 61. The last Covid bulletin issued by the state government was on January 28.

As for Kolkata, a Kolkata Municipal Corporation’s health official said the civic body is keeping a close watch. The official said that South India has witnessed some covid cases in recent times and many people travel to and fro between Kolkata and southern states.

The Health official pointed out that KMC had carried out the best Covid vaccination programme in the state since its commencement on 16 January, 2021.

“Vaccination was undertaken across 162 vaccination centres established in 144 wards. About 1 crore, 9 lakh 98 thousand 906 doses of vaccines were administered” it was pointed out.