4 die in Siliguri; 63 cases in Darjeeling dist- in North and South Dinajpur spike in the cases after Durga Puja

Alipurduar Covid patient flees, cops nab him

SNS, SILIGURI, 1 NOVEMBER 2020 : Four Covid patients died in Siliguri today, sources said. A 60-year-old resident of Cooch Behar died at the dedicated hospital for Covid-19 patients at Matigara in Siliguri today.

A 56-year-old person from Banarhat in Jalpaiguri died in the surgical isolation ward of the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital today. Another 68-year-old person from Takdah in Darjeeling died in a private nursing home at Sevoke Road.

A 72-year-old man from Cooch Behar also died in a private nursing home.

Meanwhile, a CPI-M leader of the Bagdogra-Gonsaipur area, who had recovered from Covid- 19 and returned home recently, died due to a cardiac arrest today.

"We were relieved following his recovery from Covid-19, but he suffered breathing problems at home, leading to his admission in the private nursing home he died today," said Darjeeling district party secretary Jibesh Sarkar.

Darjeeling district, meanwhile, recorded 63 new Covid cases today, including 31 in the Siliguri Municipal Corporation, four in Darjeeling Municipality, two in Kharibari, three in Sukna, seven in KurseongMunicipality, eight in Matigara, two in Mirik, four in Naxalbari, one in Phansidewa, and one in Sukhia Pokhari, sources said.

A total of 28 fresh cases were also detected in the Jalpaiguri portion of the SMC.

Also today, 53 Covid patients either ended their home isolation or were discharged from hospitals in darjeeling district, the sources said.

57 new Covid-19 cases in Malda

Another 57 cases of Covid 19 were detected in Malda district yesterday. Forty-six samples were found positive at the VRDL in the Malda Medical College and hospital (MMCH), while the remaining were detected through the rapid antigen tests, sources said.

Among the fresh cases, 23 were from areas under the English Bazaar Municipality, while other blocks had less than 10 cases each. The tally in Malda has now gone up to around 10,000 cases, with almost 1100 active cases and 93 deaths.

46 detected in North Dinajpur

North Dinajpur recorded 46 new cases in the past 24 hours, sources said. Most of the fresh cases are from areas in Raiganj, Kaliyaganj and Islampur.

Officials said there had been a spike in the cases after Durga Puja as compared to the days before that when the number of daily cases hovered between 20 and 30.

According to district health officials, 4,826 persons have tested positive for the virus in the district so far, while 54 persons have died.

35 in South Dinajpur

South Dinajpur is also showing a slightly higher rate of infection post- Puja, sources said. According to a report of the health department, the positivity rate is 5.1 percent. On the other hand, the recovery rate is above 95 percent.

A total of 1370 samples were tested in the past 24 hours in the district, while 35 cases were detected. A total of 44 patients were also discharged after treatment, taking the number of recovered patients to 6455.

Eight new cases were found in the Balurghat Municipality area, where the total number of cases has gone up to 1227. The health department report said there are 277 active patients in the district, including 219 in home isolation.

Alipurduar Covid patient flees, cops nab him

A 62-year-old under-trial tried to flee from police custody twice while he was being taken to the Tapsikhata Covid Hospital in Alipurduar district last evening.

It is learnt that Phiren Kumar Narjnary, who is standing trial in an attempted murder case, and who was in jail custody tested positive for Covid-19 yesterday

Police personnel under the Inspector-in-charge of the Alipurduar police station, Anindya Bhattacharjee, reached the spot and managed to catch Mr Narjinary from a paddy field, around 2km away from where he fled, sources said. He is now undergoing treatment in the Covid Hospital. "Mr Narjinary who is accused in an attempted murder case, was taken to the Alipurduar district correctional home three days ago, where he was tested for the virus," a source said.

It is alleged that Mr Narjinary was being taken to the Covid hospital in an ambulance without any police security "he tried to escape at the Birpara Choupathy for the first time, but the ambulance driver caught him on the spot. The second time, he opened the door of the ambulance and fled at the Covid hospital More," sources said.

"Police reached the spot immediately and caught the accused at around 11 pm," the additional SP of Alipurduar, Amlan Ghosh, said.

The jail authorities confirmed the matter, though they avoided questions on the security part of it.