QKolkata: Second Coronavirus Case in the City & More
Your daily lowdown of all things Kolkata.
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1. City Registers Second Positive Corona Patient, Also From UK
A 22-year-old management graduate from London, who had landed in Kolkata on 13 March via Delhi, has tested positive for Covid-19, taking the number of cases in the city to two.
The youth – son of a prominent sanitary hardware store owner in south Kolkata – had no symptoms when he arrived, but was advised strict home isolation.
He got in touch with the Beliaghata ID Hospital and sought admission on Wednesday after he developed a sore throat and came to know that two of his friends who had accompanied him on the flight from London had tested positive in their home cities of Chhattisgarh and Punjab.
(Source: The Times Of India)
2. PK, Legendary Footballer And Coach, No More
Pradip Kumar Banerjee – PK to legions of fans and the life and voice of Indian football for over five decades – breathed his last on Friday at a city hospital after a month-long fight with illness. He was 83.
The football legend was suffering from multi-organ dysfunction and sepsis and was on ventilator support for over two weeks. “He could not be revived despite our best efforts,” said Dr Kunal Sarkar, a member of the medical team set up to oversee his treatment. The end came at 2.08 pm.
As irony would have it, the coronavirus-induced restrictions didn’t allow the hearse to be taken to the Maidan and the Big 3 clubs, which saw him turn into a legend over the years.
(Source: The Times of India)
3. Virus Scare Tells on Social Ties in Bengal
A retired engineer was subjected to humiliation over COVID-19 fear at his village on Thursday night when residents refused to help him take his son to hospital as the latter had returned from Italy 10 days ago.
The father – who always commanded respect at the village near Chinsurah in Hooghly district over academic achievements of the son, an IIT Mumbai pass-out – finally took out his scooter and carried the youth to Imambara Hospital for a check-up.
“My son returned on 9 March and was screened at the airport and also at local hospital, but he didn’t show any coronavirus symptoms. Last night, he developed throat problems because of allergy and was coughing also. His illness made the neighbours suspect that he had coronavirus infection. Then, I decided to take him to hospital, but none came forward to help me,” said the father.
(Source: The Telegraph)
4. Two Flee Isolation From Birbhum District Hospital, Traced Soon
Two patients with suspected symptoms of the novel coronavirus fled the Birbhum district hospital’s isolation ward here early on Friday morning, but police have brought them back from home within hours.
The two, residents of Chandrapur in Birbhum, were in a group of eight masons who had returned from Gujarat on Thursday. The duo were being monitored in isolation at the hospital after they had complained of fever and cough.
“The two were kept in isolation as they had cold and cough, besides a travel history from another state. When we learnt that they had fled from the hospital, we immediately informed police about it. The police brought them back to the isolation ward on Friday evening. They would remain under observation,” said Himdri Ari, chief medical officer in Birbhum.
(Source: The Telegraph)
5. Work-From-Home for Govt Staff, Free Ration for 7.9 Crore Poor in State
The Bengal government has mandated a partial work-from-home system for its employees and introduced a relief package for 7.9 crore people who get subsidised rations.
The two measures were part of a plan announced by CM Mamata Banerjee on Friday to tackle the spread of the novel coronavirus and mitigate the problems faced by a large section of people staring at a season of hardships because of reduced activity — economic and otherwise — induced by the outbreak of the disease.
“The government will give free ration to the poor till September. People getting subsidised rice at Rs 2 a kilo and wheat at Rs 3 a kilo will now get them free (a maximum of 5kg a month),” Banerjee said.
(Source: The Times of India)