Test awaits the quarantined ..... The Jyotinagar area had been sealed from Monday

TT Bureau, Siliguri, 22.04.20: Sushanta Roy, the officer on special duty for management of Covid-19 treatment in north Bengal, said on Tuesday that tests would be conducted on all suspected coronavirus patients put up at government-run quarantine centres in the region.

“Swab samples of all such persons would be examined to prevent the spread of the virus. As of now, 70 samples are being tested at the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital in Siliguri. We are planning to double the number of daily tests,” Roy said in Jalpaiguri.

Jalpaiguri district magistrate Abhishek Kumar Tiwary said all residents of Jyotinagar in Siliguri would be screened.

“Residents of Jyotinagar and areas within a 3km radius will be screened to know if they have fever and other symptoms of Covid-19,” said Tiwary.

Jyotinagar, though is under the Siliguri Municipal Corporation, is part of the Jalpaiguri district. The area had been sealed from Monday.

The health department will also start rapid tests in the area, said sources.

Sankar Ghosh, member, mayor-in-council (health and education) of the SMC, held a meeting with Subhendu Roy, a representative of the World Health Organisation and the deputy chief medical officer of health of Jalpaiguri district, on Tuesday for the fever survey.

“Health workers of the SMC will carry out a door-to-door survey in wards 41 and 47 to check whether any resident has been suffering from fever. We will submit the reports to the district health department every day,” said Ghosh.