Another COVID-19 patient dies in Bengal, death count 3

A 47-year-old woman infected with the coronavirus died at a hospital in West Bengal's Howrah district, taking the COVID-19 death toll in the state to three, a health department official said on Tuesday. The woman had recently visited Dooars in North Bengal but had no foreign travel history.

"The woman, a resident of Salkia in Howrah, died on Monday night before test results came. Her test results confirmed that she was infected with the coronavirus," the official said. The woman was admitted to the Howrah Zilla Hospital on Sunday evening with fever and severe breathing problems.

The health department is considering quarantining the family members of the deceased and all those who came in contact with her, the official said. "We need to find out persons whom she had recently come in contact with. Swab tests of her family members will be conducted. The nurses and doctors who treated the woman will also be quarantined, he said.

The department will also enquire whether any family member of the deceased had recently returned from abroad or not. The woman will be cremated as per the prescribed protocol set by the health department.

After the death of the woman, nurses and group D staff of the hospital on Tueday staged a demonstration, alleging that the woman was initially admitted to the general ward for nearly three hours, and they had to attend to her without personal protective gears such as masks, gloves, and jackets. "The woman was admitted here on Sunday evening as a suspected coronavirus patient. Despite several requests to provide personal protective equipment (PPE), the authority did not pay heed to our demand. We had to attend to her without any protection," one of the nurses of the state-run facility said.

She alleged that the woman was initially admitted to the general ward here, and she was shifted to the CCU later that night and was on ventilation support since then. "The woman was also taken for X-ray. We have no isolation ward here in this hospital, the nurse said.

Meanwhile, four new cases of coronavirus have been reported in West Bengal, taking the count to 26, the health department official said. Two men from the city- one from Salt Lake and another from Tollygunge area- tested positive for COVID-19, and are undergoing treatment at two separate private hospitals here.

"Neither they have any history of traveling abroad, nor to any other state. We are trying to find out whether any of their family members had gone overseas or other states. Family members of the two will also be quarantined," he said.

Another man, in his early 30s, who had recently returned from Maharashtra, was admitted to the Midnapore Medical College and Hospital and tested positive for the coronavirus. The details of the fourth person, who tested positive for COVID-19, are yet to be ascertained, he said.

Meanwhile, the man, who had tested positive for COVID-19 after returning from the UK, the first case in West Bengal, is likely to be discharged from the Beliaghata I D Hospital here on Tuesday. He is the son of a senior state government official.

The health department will also discharge the woman from Habra, who had tested positive for COVID-19 after returning from Scotland. "The latest test results of the two were found negative. They will be advised a 14-day home quarantine," the official said.

The father of the Ballygunge-resident, who had returned from the UK and tested positive for coronavirus, will also be discharged on Tuesday after his swab test came out negative, the official added.