Covid-19 cases rise to 4 in Bengal, latest case sans travel history

Kolkata: The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in West Bengal rose to four on Saturday with two persons testing positive for the dreaded disease since Friday night.

With one of the patients, a resident of Dum Dum close to Kolkata, not having any recent travel history, it may be the first indicator of community spread of the disease in the eastern state.

The man in his 50s, who has been admitted to the AMRI Hospital in Salt Lake, was detected with the disease on Saturday evening after reports from two of the testing facilities — SSKM and NICED — returned positive, sources said.

The man was suffering from fever since March 13 and got admitted to the private health facility three days later. As per the patient’s declaration form, he has no recent history of travelling abroad.

“This is ominous. This is the first case showing community spread of the disease in Bengal,” said a senior microbiologist.

Earlier, a young woman from Habra in North 24 Parganas district tested positive for the infection on Friday night, officials said.

The woman, in her early 20s, returned from Scotland on March 15. She is now admitted to the special isolation ward of the state’s primary referral hospital for infectious diseases, the ID Hospital in Beliaghata.

Sources in the state health department said that her family members have been asked to remain in home quarantine. Her samples were sent to the virology laboratory of National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases (NICED) here on Friday. The test reports confirmed that she has been infected with coronavirus.

Earlier, two males — a teenager and a youth — who returned from the United Kingdom recently had tested positive for the disease. They are both admitted to the ID Hospital and their condition is stated to be stable. Both are residents of South Kolkata.

IANS