Legendary actor Soumitra Chattopadhyay tests negative for Covid-19

The actor is currently on "occasional oxygen support" but he is "responding to verbal commands," said the Belle Vue Hospital, where he is admitted after contracting the virus.

Chattopadhyay, who was admitted to the city hospital after testing positive for Covid-19 last Tuesday, was put on ventilator support a day ago.

On Oct 11, he was treated twice with plasma therapy. 

A medical bulletin from Belle Vue Hospital on Wednesday said that the veteran actor was "stable and critical".

It said that his parameters are normal other than sodium.

Chattopadhyay's daughter Poulami Bose earlier in the day appealed to all to show her ailing father "privacy and respect that he so richly deserves".

Bose, an actor in her own right, was reacting to a photograph of the thespian lying on his hospital bed in Kolkata that went viral on social media on Tuesday.

This prompted a pained appeal from his daughter, to give the 85-year-old actor the "privacy and respect that he so richly deserves".

Not only the photograph but also rumours of his death and his detailed medical bulletin going public have distressed the family no end.

"Amidst this time of huge anxiety over the health of my COVID-afflicted father, we are extremely upset, sad and heartbroken to find unauthorized pictures of him from the ICU and his medical bulletin being shared widely on social media," Bose posted on her Facebook page late last night.

She also said her father's health condition improved.

"My father is slightly more stable today ... he is 1% better than yesterday and I'm happy with that ... Some more tests have been conducted today and we'll get the results tomorrow or later ...Thank you all for your prayers and love," she wrote.