Thai national dies in WB, coronavirus feared

Chinese national too suspected to be suffering from virus

A Thai national died at a private hospital in Kolkata on Monday amidst suspicion of the cause of death being coronavirus. Surin Naktoy (32), the female patient, was suffering from severe respiratory distress .

Meanwhile, a young Chinese national, suspected to be suffering from the virus, has been admitted to a state-run hospital in the city, prompting senior state health department officials to rush there for an inspection on Monday morning.

The patient, Hu Mai (28), has been undergoing treatment at an isolation ward in the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Beliaghata, also the nodal centre in the state. Embarking on a global tour six months ago from China, she travelled various countries, including Namibia, Madagascar and Mauritius, before reaching the city on January 24.

She took admission to a private hospital off EM Bypass with fever, cough and headache for medical tests on her own.

Meanwhile, with the coronavirus outbreak in China, two Bengaluru residents who returned from China ten days ago have been kept under medical observation at a government hospital, said sources from the Karnataka health department.

The two residents, who returned from China on January 18, came to the hospital on Sunday night after developing a cold. Their samples will be sent to a laboratory in Pune for tests, officials said without divulging the names and locality that they live in. They are under observation at the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest diseases.

Another man, who was admitted for medical supervision three days ago, was discharged after he tested negative for the deadly virus. The blood

samples were sent to the National Institute of Virology in Pune. The virus has claimed over 80 lives with 2,744 confirmed cases in China so far, the department sources said.

Besides these cases, six passengers — four Chinese and two Indians — are under 28-day house quarantine and they are asymptomatic, a statement from the department said.

The Airport Health

Organisation, which is on the alert ever since the outbreak of the virus in China, said on Monday that none of the passengers who came from that country in the last 14 days were found to have contracted the disease.

No passengers are reported positive with thermal scanning and having history of visit to Wuhan city in the last 14 days, the KIA unit of the APHO, said.