Man with no travel history dies
KOLKATA:A 57-year-old man, who contracted the coronavirus disease or Covid-19 without any foreign travel or contact history with another patient, died on Monday afternoon at a private hospital in Kolkata, fuelling fears that the infection had entered a community transmission stage.
The man was a resident of Dum Dum in the North 24 Parganas district. His wife and five other family members are in isolation at a state-run hospital. Health department officials said the victim went to Bilaspur in Uttar Pradesh in the last week of February and returned on March 2 by train.
This was the first Covid-19 death in the state. “The 57-yearold male patient, who was admitted in the Salt Lake unit on March 16 with high fever and cough, expired at 3.35 pm. Our critical care team tried their best…but he could not be revived,” the hospital said in a statement.
“All necessary steps have been taken to ensure the critical care team is safe. The state health department has been notified and all formalities will be followed as per norms,” the statement added.
The case has triggered fears of community transmission because there was no recorded history of travelling abroad or contact with any Covid-19 patient. The Union health ministry has denied possibility of community transmission – a phase of the outbreak where the origin of the infection cannot be traced to foreign travel or contact with another positive case.
Director of West Bengal health services Ajay Chakraborty said, “On the night of March 1, he travelled in Azad Hind Express which came from Pune which is one of the hotspots.”
NEW DELHI: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has warned of strict action from Tuesday against those violating the lockdown in the national capital from Monday to halt the spread of the coronavirus (Covid-19) and promised to increase the number of buses plying for essential services providers from 25% to 50%.
Addressing the public through a live video, Kejriwal said while most people were following the restrictions imposed, there were some who were not. “Today [Monday] you may have gone out, but not from tomorrow [Tuesday]. We will take strict action. This is to protect your livesand others from the virus,” Kejriwal said.
Kejriwal said many essential service providers faced inconvenience due to reduced public transportation on Monday. “We have decided to increase the number of buses from 25% to 50%. Most buses will ply empty, but the buses will be available,” he said. Kejriwal appealed house owners not to insist on monthly rents from their tenants for the time being. “Postpone it for a month or two,” he said. Kejriwal said they would act against employers deducting salaries for the lockdown period.