Siliguri sees around 30 new cases-Ward for SARI patients opened- Markets close -Private nursing home tinder scanner

SNS,  SILIGURI, 2 JULY 2020: Around 30 new cases of Covid-19 have been detected in areas nder the Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC) today. The fresh cases include two police personnel. One of them is an officer of inspector rank of the Government Railway Police(GRP).

Senior GRP officers said people who had come in contact with the officer had now been quarantined.

Ward for SARI patients

A 48-bed separate ward for severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) or suspected Covid-19 patients has been set up in the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital (NBMCH).

Markets close

Markets at Goghomali main road and the Ghogomali Netaji Bazar in Siliguri will remain closed from tomorrow for seven days after a trader there was infected with Covid-19, officials said.

Man dies in Malda

In Malda, an 80-year-old man from Sarbamangalapally under the English Bazaar police station in Malda died this morning, and he had tested positive for Covid-19, sources said. His family members refused to take the body, and that it is still lying in the Malda Medical College and Hospital (MMCH), sources said.

A deputy magistrate in the office of the SDO-Sadar has also been infected, according to sources.

Meanwhile, another 20 samples have tested positive for Covid-19 at the VRDL in the MMCH. Nine of the fresh cases are from the Old Malda block office, and a panchayat level people's representative, sources said.

Private nursing home tinder scanner

The health department has sought reports from some private health facilities for allegedly denying treatment to patients. Allegations have been levelled at a nursing home for turning down a patient without conducting treatment, and instead advising him to undergo Covid-19 test first.The resident of Ward 1, who had suffered chest pain, later died in the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital. He had also tested negative for the virus. It led to protests in the town. In another incident, controversy erupted after anothe rnursing home had released the body of a 74- year-old woman of Ward 17 and handed over to family members before the Covid-19 test report was had. The report later confirmed she had tested positive for Covid-19.

She was declared brought dead at the nursing home on 26 June, but the body was kept in there for the whole day. She was cremated in the presence of family members at the Kiranchandra Crematorium on Monday. HIowever, for any death of a Covid-19 patient, the bodies are not handed over to family members. The civic body is responsible of the cremation or burial of bodies of Covid- 19 patients. The administration has designated an electric crematorium at Sahudangi on the out skirts of Siliguri town for Covid patients.

"We have sought reports from the nursing homes," Darjeeling district Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr Pralay Acharya, said.

Meanwhile, Siliguri Police arrested around 10 persons from Darjeeling More for not using face masks in public. Police officers said such a drive will continue against people stepping out without wearing masks.