Elderly man with no history of travel tests positive for COVID-19 in Kolkata
His family members have been placed under home quarantine, he said, adding that police have been posted outside their residence.
Published: 26th March 2020 05:57 PM | Last Updated: 26th March 2020 05:57 PM | A+A A-
For representational purposes (Photo | Madhav K, EPS)
KOLKATA: An elderly man tested positive for COVID-19 in West Bengal, taking the total number of cases in the state to 10, a senior health official said on Thursday.
The 66-year-old from Nayabad in Kolkata had no history of travelling abroad or outside the state, he said.
He is undergoing treatment at a private hospital's intensive coronary care unit, especially set up for novel coronavirus patients, the official said.
His family members have been placed under home quarantine, he said, adding that police have been posted outside their residence.
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The man recently attended a wedding ceremony at Egra in East Midnapore district, where he might have come in contact with an infected person, sources in the health department said.
"After coming home from the wedding ceremony, he complained of fever and breathing problems, following which he was admitted to a private hospital on March 23," one of the sources said.
His samples were tested twice and the result turned out to be the same, a doctor at the private hospital said. The sexagenarian has been given oxygen support and necessary medicines, the doctors added.
Meanwhile, a woman who was sneezing and coughing in a bus, which was on its way to Kolkata from Paschim Burdwan, was told by the driver and his helper to get herself tested but she refused.
The driver, on reaching Esplanade area in the city, informed police about the matter, following which he was told to take the bus to Beliaghata ID hospital.
The woman, however, refused to alight from the bus despite repeated requests by doctors at the hospital.
"We tried convincing her to get down so that we can conduct a test, but she was reluctant," a senior doctor of Beliaghata ID hospital said.
A team of police officers also reached the hospital to convince her but she again refused, the doctor said.
The woman was finally taken to MR Bangur hospital in south Kolkata, where she agreed to get her tests done, a senior police officer said.
