Coronavirus: Fourth positive case detected in state
Kolkata: A 23-year-old girl who returned to the city from Scotland on March 19 and was admitted to Beliaghata ID Hospital on March 20 and a 57-year-old man from Dum Dum with no history of foreign travel, admitted in a private hospital in the city on March 16, tested positive for the Coronavirus at Beliaghata ID Hospital in the past 24 hours taking the total number of positive cases in the state to four.
Three family members of the girl, including her parents, have been taken to the isolation ward of the Beliaghata ID Hospital as there is a possibility for the virus being transmitted to them. The girl has been kept at an isolation chamber of the hospital under round-the-clock monitoring. The victim, a resident of Ashokenagar area under Habra police station in North 24-Parganas had gone to Scotland to study MBA. She did not have any fever during the thermal screening at the airport.
In another incident, a 57-year-old man from Dum Dum with no history of foreign travel was admitted to a private hospital in Salt Lake on March 16 with fever and dry cough. He tested positive for the virus on March 21.
According to sources in the private hospital, his symptoms intensified since March 19 with acute respiratory distress syndrome and he has been put on ventilator, with doctors suggesting ECMO support. His swab samples were sent to both NICED and SSKM, one of which came positive. Another sample was sent on March 21, the report of which was also positive. The Health Department has initiated a detailed probe to ascertain how the virus was transmitted to him.
However, there have been conflicting views among locals regarding the woman. It is yet to be known if she had directly visited the Beliaghata ID Hospital soon after her arrival at Kolkata airport or visited her house and later came to the hospital. She was admitted to the hospital on March 20 morning and her swab samples were sent for tests on the same day. The report came as positive in the dead of night. In the last four days, three patients have tested positive.
Meanwhile, a house-keeping staffer who reportedly visited the ward of two other Corona positive victims has been admitted to the same hospital with suspected symptoms. His swab samples have been sent for tests. The hospital authorities on Saturday claimed that all the staffers, doctors and nursing staff members who have access to the isolation ward are fully equipped as per the norms prescribed by the Health Department.
In another development, the Beliaghata ID officials held a meeting at the hospital to chalk out plans on how the 100-bed isolation ward, announced by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, would be accommodated.
According to the Health Department data, till March 21, around 80063 travellers/persons have been screened at Kolkata and Bagdogra Airport and 5,16,979 persons have been screened at seven Land Border Check Points along Nepal and Bangladesh. Around 4,964 crew members of ships have been screened in three ports. Till date, 21,401 travellers from COVID-19 affected countries have been identified and placed under surveillance. For 616 of them, the surveillance period has been over. Around 40 are admitted in isolation facility currently while the remaining 20,745 are under home surveillance.
