Bengal corona toll now three, one lakh home-quarantined in a single day

The death count from COVID 19 rose to three in West Bengal with the swab sample of a deceased woman turning out to be positive on Tuesday, triggering a series of protest demonstrations by nurses of a state-run hospital who alleged that the authorities had refused to keep her in isolation.

Meanwhile, the number of confirmed cases increased to 27 as five more people tested positive for the deadly coronavirus infection, while alarmed authorities quarantined over one lakh people on Tuesday to prevent further spread of the disease.

The 48-year-old woman, admitted to the Howrah District Hospital on Sunday with severe respiratory disorder, was tested for coronavirus infection the same day. But she died on Monday night before the test results were available.

On Tuesday morning, the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases (NICED) in its report detected the presence of the deadly virus in the woman's sample.

When the nurses got to know about it, they started an agitation, alleging the hospital superintendent had refused to heed their repeated requests to put the woman in the isolation ward.

A health department official said the government was considering shutting down the hospital for the time being.

On the other hand, the confirmed cases also continued to rise, the department in a bulletin said

one female and four males, admitted in five different facilities have tested positive.

"One of them had contact with suspect cases. Rest were tested as cases of Severe Acute Respiratory illness," said the bulletin.

In a desperate bid to thwart any community spread of the disease, the state health department ordered over one lakh people to home quarantine during the day.

The quarantined included those who have come in close contact with COVID-19 patients, returnees from abroad and other states, and others who have developed symptoms like fever.

At this moment, the total number of people on home quarantine in the state is 1,47,777. IANS