COVID-19: Top official, health worker at state-run hospital test positive in West Bengal

Both of them have been shifted to MR Bangur Hospital in south Kolkata

Nurses and medical staff stage a protest over the supply of low-quality personal protection equipment (PPE) and other medical facilities for the treatment of coronavirus-affected patients, at Howrah State General Hospital, West Bengal on March 31, 2020.

A top official and a health worker at a state-run hospital in neighbouring Howrah district tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday, officials at the state health department said.

Both of them have been shifted to MR Bangur Hospital in south Kolkata, one of the four facilities earmarked in the city for treatment of COVID-19 patients , they said.

“The medical superintendent-cum-vice principal (MSVP) of the Howrah district hospital was under home quarantine since Monday, as he had developed symptoms of coronavirus infection. After his swab tested positive this morning he was taken to MR Bangur Hospital,” an official said.

Some doctors at the Howrah hospital have been placed under quarantine, and the process of identifying all those who came in contact with the MSVP and the medical staff member was underway, he said.

According to the official, the MSVP had come in contact with a COVID-19 patient from Salkia in the district, who died due to the disease on March 30.