Another WB teen roams around with infection
Another young Kolkata resident has been found with deadly Covid-19 virus, taking the total number of confirmed cases to two in West Bengal. Like the female bureaucrat’s teenaged son who had returned from the UK recently, the second patient also roamed around the city for days till he was admitted to Infectious Diseases (ID) Hospital in Beliaghata on Thursday, only after the police alerted the state health department following a tip-off. His swab samples tested positive on Friday.
The 22-year-old son of a santitaryware businessman from south Kolkata’s Lake Road in Ballygunge is getting quarantined at an isolation ward. At least 10 members of his family have been kept in isolation at a quarantine centre in Rajarhat, according to sources.
Returning from London, the second Covid-19 patient landed at the
Kolkata Airport on March
13, five days ahead of the arrival of the first patient of the state.
Rattled by the trend of avoiding treatment and callous attitude of infected people, chief minister Mamata Banerjee warned that her government can now force suspected
Covid-19 patients roaming freely to undergo quarantine. “As many people are not taking it seriously, a notification has been issued. They may not have the knowledge,” she said.
“The Central government’s notification has become a law now. Anyone can be in-home surveillance or isolation. They should not step out of home unless it is emergency. We do not want it to spread,” she added.
The second victim was advised to stay in isolation at home by the team of doctors during his screening. But he roamed around the premises of the vast residential complex where he stays with his family, apart from visiting a restaurant and a shopping mall, one of his neighbours revealed anonymously.
She added, “The government has the power to admit anyone in its quarantine centre on a complaint that the person, being a suspect does not stay in self-isolation.” Returning from London the second patient landed at the Kolkata Airport on March 13.
A senior Trinamul Congress leader, who is a Member, Mayor-inCouncil of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation and lives in the same highrise disclosed that requests to the youth for taking precaution went in vain. Later the youth was seen at two shops of his father: one at S P Mukherjee Road and another Ishwari Ganguly Street in Kalighat.
On Thursday local residents alerted the Kalighat police station after growing suspicious about him to be a Covid-19 patient for coughing. The cops dialled the state health officials who convinced the suspect’s family to admit him to ID Hospital.