An elderly man infected with the novel coronavirus died in a Kolkata hospital on Monday, the first death recorded in West Bengal due to the contagion, hospital sources said. The deceased was aged 57 years and was a resident of Dumdum in the North 24 Parganas district. He died at a private hospital. He was in the hospital since February 16 and was on ventilator support. He had no recent history of travelling abroad, but had visited Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh in February. ”The man had acute respiratory distress syndrome. We had taken proper protective measures but he died this afternoon,” a hospital spokesperson said. His family members are under observation in an isolation ward at a state-run hospital, according to government officials.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee wrote to prime minister Narendra Modi on Monday, requesting him to issue necessary instructions to stop all flights coming to the state as a precautionary measure. In a letter to the prime minister, Banerjee noted that her government had suspended all inter-state public transport and reduced the number of intra-state buses due to Coronavirus threat. ”I would request you to kindly make arrangements to issue necessary instructions to stop all flights coming to West Bengal with immediate effect so that the source of spreading infection is effectively contained and the lockdown in the state is implemented in true letter and spirit,” Banerjee wrote. West Bengal on Sunday announced a partial lockdown from 5 pm on Monday till March 27 midnight, in an attempt to arrest the spread of the viral disease. ”The government of West Bengal has taken multiple proactive measures to prevent the spread of infection and for upgrading the health infrastructure in the state to address the crisis. We have announced massive critical safety regulation measures from 5 pm today,” the chief minister wrote.
Three more people tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Kolkata on Sunday, taking the total number of COVID-19 cases in West Bengal to seven. The fresh cases are the parents of a UK-returned man, the second coronavirus patient in the state, and a help working at their Ballygunge residence. All of them are currently at the isolation ward of the state-run Beliaghata ID hospital, officials informed. Eight other family members of the 22-year-old man have been admitted to the isolation ward of the Chittaranjan Cancer Hospital's Rajarhat campus, where they are under observation. Health department sources said test reports of the eight people were awaited. The man, who is pursuing higher studies in the UK, had returned home on March 13. He got himself admitted to the Beliaghata ID Hospital after two of his batchmates, residents of Chhattisgarh and Chandigarh, tested positive for COVID-19. Health officials further informed that all coronavirus patients are under observation, adding that a few of them have a slight fever while two have sore throat. On Sunday, the state health department collected 14 samples for testing and kept 21 people under hospital isolation.
The government has announced no domestic flights will operate from Wednesday. Airlines have to plan operations so as to land at their destination before 11.59 pm on Tuesday, government officials informed. Only cargo flights will be allowed. International flights had already been banned for a week.
Two special trains carrying passengers from Mumbai and Pune in Maharashtra arrived at Howrah station on Sunday, Railway sources said. The medical officers of the state government examined the passengers who disembarked at both Howrah and Kharagpur railway stations. Mamata Banerjee had on Saturday alleged that the Railways was not ensuring proper screening of passengers entering the state through long-distance trains. She claimed that migrant workers from the state, particularly those in Maharashtra, were being packed off in trains and sent back without medical checkups.
The special train from Mumbai arrived at the New Complex of Howrah station at 7.22 am following which 1,000 passengers were cordoned off by RPF and GRP personnel and examined by the medical officers, the sources said. Another special train carrying passengers from Pune arrived at Howrah at 6.25 pm. The medical officers also examined the passengers who disembarked at Kharagpur railway station, the sources said. Apart from the special trains, passengers of all long- distance trains arriving at Howrah in the South Eastern Railway jurisdiction on Sunday were being screened for any signs of fever, cough, they said. The Indian Railways on Sunday announced the cancellation of all passenger train services in the country till March 31 to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus.
The West Bengal Board of Secondary Education on Sunday asked teachers checking papers of the class 10 state board examinations to put off the scheduled process of submission of marks and answer scripts to head examiners untill further orders amid the coronavirus outbreak. Board President Kalyanmoy Ganguly told the teachers that submission of marks and answer scripts of the secondary examination “shall remain suspended”. The board further instructed them to check the answer scripts “in a proper manner, preferably twice, so as to keep them ready” for immediate submission when asked by the board, following improvement in the situation. The examiners were supposed to handover the papers after evaluation to respective head examiners from early next week, which would then be checked and scrutinised by the head examiners and after tabulation of marks submitted to the board. The examinations were conducted from February 18 to February 27.
