Two more test positive for Covid-19 in Calcutta A 58-year-old man who returned from Egypt and a 55-year-old woman who had returned from UK recently tested positive

Subhajoy Roy, TT, 25.03.20, Calcutta: Two more persons tested positive for Covid-19 in the city on Tuesday, said officials in the state health department. As of now, nine persons in Bengal have tested positive for the coronavirus and there has been one death.

“Samples of 190 people in the state have tested positive so far. Fourteen results are awaited,” a health department official said.

A 58-year-old man who had returned from Egypt and a 55-year-old woman back from the UK recently tested positive for the virus on Tuesday. Their samples were tested at the National Institute for Cholera and Enteric Diseases (NICED) in Beleghata.

“The woman had arrived from the UK four days ago. She was home all through. Only her husband had stepped out once to buy groceries. We have asked her husband and son, who drove her to hospital, to stay in home quarantine. Their samples will be collected tomorrow,” a health department official said.

The man who had returned from Egypt, as well as his wife and daughter, have come in contact with many people, officials said.

The man and the woman were admitted to the quarantine ward of the Infectious Diseases and Beleghata General Hospital. After the test reports arrived, they were shifted to the isolation facility for Covid-19 patients in the hospital.

An official said the man had been having symptoms of coronavirus infection since March 15 and was admitted to the hospital on March 21.

“His samples were first collected on Saturday and the report was negative. When samples were tested again on Tuesday, they turned out to be positive,” the official said. “This shows initial negative reports could be misleading and highlights the need for isolation.”

Health department sources said they were speaking to family members of the man. “He was admitted to hospital five days after he showed the symptoms. We are trying to find out the people he came in contact with. Some of them have to be admitted to hospital and some others should be advised home quarantine,” an official said.

Negative report

A 56-year-old man, a colleague of the Dum Dum resident who had been infected with Covid-19 and died on Tuesday, was admitted to a government hospital on Monday. He tested negative but officials said he could not be discharged before the incubation period for the virus is over. “We will conduct a second round of tests after a few days,” an official said.

A chef whose samples were collected on Monday has tested negative. A mother and her daughter, also admitted at the Beleghata hospital, tested negative on Tuesday.

Search for contacts

A woman whose brother tested positive in Delhi has left for Nadia. “We have made a list of 13 people who have come in contact with her. The list may change,” an official said.