Coronavirus: West Bengal man returning from Saudi Arabia admitted to hospital

A West Bengal resident returning home from Saudi Arabia was on Sunday admitted to an isolation ward in a state-run hospital in Kolkata with fever and cough amid the coronavirus scare, a health department official said. The man from Murshidabad district was taken to the hospital after he underwent thermal screening at the NSC Bose International Airport.

His blood samples and swabs were collected and sent to the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases (NICED) in Beliaghata. "After thermal screening, the youth suffering from fever and cough was taken to the Beliaghata ID Hospital in a specialised ambulance. He was admitted to the isolation ward and is currently under observation," the official said.

Special arrangements were made as per guidelines of the central and state health departments to take him from the airport to the hospital.

"A doctor, a nurse and another person, as well as the driver of the ambulance in which the youth was taken to the hospital wore special jackets meant to protect from coronavirus infection. All forms of precautionary measures were taken," the official said.

A Bangladeshi woman who had landed in Kolkata airport from Chittagong on Thursday is also in the isolation ward of the same hospital. She had also been suffering from fever and cough.