Kolkata: With a 57-year-old man succumbing to coronavirus infection at a private hospital here on Monday, West Bengal reported its first Covid-19 death, an official said. This was the eighth coronavirus-linked death in the country.
The man, on ventilator support at the ICCU of the AAMRI Hospital, Salt Lake,
died following a cardiac arrest on afternoon. Hospitalised with fever, cold and
cough last week, his condition started deteriorating on Sunday night. He was
admitted on March 16, with complaints of fever and a dry cough. His symptoms
intensified since March 19, with acute respiratory distress syndrome and he was
put on ventilator.
The resident of Dum Dum in Kolkata’s northern suburb was detected with the
infection on Saturday evening after reports from two testing facilities — SSKM
and NICED — turned positive.
According to sources, the deceased’s some family members are in hospital, and
few others in home isolation.
He didn’t have any recent foreign travel history, but attended a marriage in
Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, last month. He returned by the Pune-Howrah Azad Hind
Express, early this month.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee learnt of the death during an all-party meeting
on coronavirus at the state secretariat Nabanna. She instructed the police to
ensure that the disease didn’t spread from the corpse and the last rights were
performed as per the advice of doctors.
Six more coronavirus patients are admitted at the special isolation ward of the
ID Hospital Beliaghata, state’s primary referral hospital for infectious
diseases. They include three members of a family – an elderly couple and their
22-year-old son – and the housemaid.
The youth had returned from the United Kingdom recently.
A girl who came back from Scotland and a teenager who studies in the UK have
also been afflicted with the disease.
His samples were sent to both NICED and the city’s premier SSKM hospital, one of which came positive. Another sample sent on March 21 also turned out to be positive. He did at 3.35 pm after a heart attack.
Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who had strong words for people breaking quarantine and indulging in risky behaviour, has declared a lockdown in all the urban areas of the state.
Earlier today – before the Centre decided ground all domestic flights — the Chief Minister wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking that all incoming flights to the state be stopped.
Ms Banerjee, who also converted an indoor stadium in Kolkata to a makeshift hospital as part of preparations for coronavirus, has said the state is not receiving enough help from the Centre to tackle the disease that has killed more than 11,000 people worldwide.