Central team visits Siliguri hotspots.... This is the first time that the team stepped out of the Siliguri frontier headquarters of the Sashastra Seema Bal since their arrival on Tuesday

The central team members at a quarantine centre in Siliguri on Thursday. Picture by Passang Yolmo

TT Bureau,  24.04.20, Siliguri: The five-member team of central government officials from Delhi visited two coronavirus-affected places in and around Siliguri on Thursday to take stock of the situation.

This is the first time that the team stepped out of the Siliguri frontier headquarters of the Sashastra Seema Bal since their arrival on Tuesday afternoon.

On Wednesday morning, the team members, headed by Vineet Joshi, an additional secretary in the Union HRD ministry, held a meeting with the chief medical officer of health of Darjeeling and some other health officials.

The team then visited an apartment complex at Kawakhali where a nurse attached to North Bengal Medical College and Hospital and four of her family members have tested positive for the coronavirus and taken to hospital.

From there, the team went to ward 47, where a railway employee has died due to suspected Covid-19 disease. The team members met people at a quarantine centre that has been set up in a local school.

“We began getting the cooperation of the state from today (Thursday) and so have come out to visit some of the places. We are yet to obtain more details and have sought reports from the state. As of now, it is too early to comment on the situation here,” said Joshi.

Asked whether the team would visit Kalimpong — where the first corona-positive case was reported in north Bengal — Joshi said: “We might visit Kalimpong but right now, I can’t say when we will go.”

(Courtesy, source and link- The Telegraph- https://www.telegraphindia.com/states/west-bengal/coronavirus-lockdown-central-team-visits-siliguri-hotspots/cid/1767530https://www.telegraphindia.com/states/west-bengal/coronavirus-lockdown-central-team-visits-siliguri-hotspots/cid/1767530 )