Kolkata: Covid-19 infected youth's family members kept in isolation, swab samples sent for test

According to senior officials of state health and family welfare department, the 18-year-old youth, who tested positive for novel coronavirus on Tuesday, is undergoing treatment in a modern isolation ward at Beliaghata ID hospital and his health condition is stable while these six persons, including his father, mother and two drivers, have been kept under surveillance in other isolation wards in the same hospital.

"Swab samples of the six persons have been sent to the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases (ICMR-NICED) for Covid-19 test and we are waiting for its report which is expected tonight," a health official said.

Meanwhile, staffers of state secretariat, Nabanna, on Wednesday morning sterilized the entire building, including gates, lifts, floors and stairs, as the Covid-19 infected teenager's mother is a top government official working as a special secretary of a department and she came to her chamber at Nabanna's fifth floor on Monday after coming in contact with her son.

Five colleagues of the official, who came in contact with her at Nabanna on Monday, have reportedly been sent to home isolation while the officer's chamber has been sealed.

Earlier on Sunday wee hours, the youth, who is a student of Oxford University, arrived in Kolkata from London via Mumbai and medical officers reportedly detected nothing suspicious in his body during thermal imaging process at both the Indian airports. 

"While leaving the Kolkata airport, the youth was advised to stay in home isolation for next 14 days, but, he reportedly visited multiple locations and met few persons on Monday," a health official told IBNS.

"After being informed that few of his friends, with whom he went to a party before leaving the UK, tested positive for Covid-19, the youth visited a local clinic and later met a doctor at M.R. Bangur hospital in south Kolkata," the senior health officer said.

"We have asked the doctors and medical-staff of both the local clinic and M.R. Bangur hospital who had treated the youth have been asked to keep themselves in home quarantine," he added.

Officials in the state health department said that their efforts were underway to identify all the persons with whom the youth came in contact and the places he visited before taking admission to Beliaghata ID hospital.

"We are currently trying to identify all the persons who came in contact with him that we can test their samples and quarantine them asap," an official said.

"We are also searching the airport details to track those passengers who had traveled siting near him in the flight and they will be advised to stay in home isolation," he added.

Presently, more than 12,200 persons with Covid-19 like symptoms are under home surveillance in West Bengal while 248 persons have completed the surveillance period, according to officials.