Assam reports first COVID-19 case; death toll rises to 6 in West Bengal

Assam’s first COVID-19 patient has a recent travel history to Delhi via Rajdhani

HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS/INDIA-EQUIPMENT

Assam has reported its first COVID-19 case in the state with a 55-year-old man testing positive Tuesday night. Sources in Assam government said the man, a cancer patient, was from Silchar. 

The patient has a recent travel history to Delhi and had stayed near the Nizamuddin area. He returned to Assam via the Rajdhani Express on March 17. Assam health minister Himant Biswa Sarma said the sample was sent to the National Institute of Virology in Pune. The report came back on Tuesday. "This is the first case in Assam. We are trying to trace the other passengers of the compartment in the Rajdhani express," Sarma said. 

This is the third coronavirus positive case reported from northeast India. The other two cases are one each from Manipur and Mizoram, with travel history to London and the US.

Meanwhile, the Assam government informed that around 450 people had travelled to Nizamuddin in Delhi from the state. "We have decided to quarantine them. The numbers may rise further," Sarma said. Around 130 blood samples have been collected and sent to respective testing centres, the minister said.

According to Assam government sources, every person who had travelled to Nizamuddin has been identified. Most of the travellers are from Barpeta, Morigaon, Naogaon and Goalpara regions.

Badruddin Ajmal, chief of AIUDF, assured every assistance to find the people who participated in the Nizamuddin event. "I, myself, am from Tabliqi Jamat. But I appeal to all people of my community to come out and reveal their identities to the government. They must be quarantined. It will be good for our community," Ajmal said.

While Assam took the drastic step, its neighbour West Bengal is yet to trace all those who participated in the religious congregation in Delhi. Sources said more than 100 people from Bengal participated, while the government could zero in on only 40 people. They are yet to be quarantined, said state home secretary Alapan Banerjee.

The casualties in West Bengal rose to six after the death of a 70-year-old man and the results of two patients, who died two days back, turned positive on Wednesday.

The 70-year-old died at a private hospital in Belghoria, on the northern fringes of Kolkata. He was also a patient of chronic kidney disease. His son, who had recently travelled to Mumbai and returned on March 19, has been isolated.

The elderly man fell ill four days back and was admitted to a nearby private hospital. He was put on a ventilator after his condition worsened on Monday. 

Despite his son's recent travel history, no measures have been undertaken by the state government to quarantine those who traveled in the same compartment. 

Meanwhile, a bureaucrat's son, who returned from Oxford and had tested positive, has recovered and was released from the hospital on Wednesday. However, he has been asked to self quarantine for another 14 days.

Bengal has registered around 36 cases of COVID-19 infections.

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