Covid patient gives birth to baby girl..Two discharged from Covid hospital..Seven more in North Dinajpur

SNS, SILIGURI, 26 MAY: A Covid-19 patient has given birth to ababy for the first time in north Bengal. A tea worker and a resident of Hatighisa under the Naxalbari Block delivered a girl child at the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital (NBMCH) today. The tea worker, who was admitted in the surgical isolation ward of the NBMCH, was tested positive of Covid-19 yesterday.

Meanwhile, rural areas under the Siliguri Sub Division witnessed a spike in Covid-19 cases, as two women tested positive for the virus in the last 24 hours. Sources said that community transmission cannot be ruled out, as the source of the infection has not been identified in some cases. However, health department offcials are yet to comment on the matter.

While this to a worker had no travel history, she had been frequenting the NBMCH for regular check-up for her pregnancy, sources said.

The gynecologist at the NBMCH, Dr Sandip Sengupta, who supervised the successful delivery. said the condition of both the mother and the baby was good.

"We have setup the surgery isolation with a separate medical team by maintaining adequate distance from the delivery and other wards to prevent other patients from being exposed. A separate surgery table for the normal delivery was arranged for. The baby is completely healthy and weighs around 2.3kg." said Dr Sengupta, who is also the dean of student affairs at the NBMCH.

It is learnt that the swab sample of the newborn will be tested.

An expert committee of the NBMCH, in consultation with the health department, will decide on whether the mother will be shifted to the dedicated hospital for Covid19 patients at Matigara, sources said.

Also, nine persons. including doctors and nurses involved in treating the woman when she was admitted on 24 May have been asked to remain in isolation at their homes.

Around 13 others, including the womans family members, have been sent to a quarantine facility.

On the other hand, a 59 year-old cancer patient of Kharibari who had returned from Mumbai after the treatment was found positive yesterday and she was in the quarantine facility at Batasi under the Kharabari block and was shifted to the isolation ward of the NBMCH on Saturday. She is now undergoing treatment in the health facility for Covid-19 patients.

The officer on special duty for Covid- 19 in north Bengal. Dr Susanta Kumar Roy, said the health department was looking into whether community transmission has begun in Siliguri.

"Health department officials are seriously looking into every aspect," Dr Roy said today.

Two discharged from Covid hospital

Two persons undergoing treatment in the Covid hospital in Siliguri have been discharged from hospital after they recovered. While one is a fruit seller from Ward 6, another hails from Ward 27.

Sanitisation of quarantine centre

An NGO, supported by the Siliguri Merchants' Association, disinfected a quarantine facility at Rajganj in Jalpaiguri district today.

Seven more in North Dinajpur

Meanwhile, in North Dinajpur district. seven fresh COVID cases were detected yesterday. Four of them are residents of villages in the Matikunda Gram Panchayat under the Islampur police station, one is a resident of Dharampur II Gram Panchayat under the Goalpokhar police station. while the other hails from Sonapur in Chopra. The seventh person hails from the Itahar block, sources said. Sources said all the seven persons are migrant workers who returned home recently. "Their swab samples were sent for COVID tests more than 10 days ago. While six of them were kept in a quarantine centre in Panjipara, one was in a centre in Raiganj." the Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr Rabindranath Pradhan, said.