16 residents of slum in Kolkata test positive for COVID-19

At least 16 slum dwellers in the city's Bagbazar area here have tested positive for COVID-19, following which they were sent to a quarantine centre on the outskirts of the metropolis, sources in the state health department said on Thursday.

Those that came in contact with the COVID-19 patients, including family members, have been sent to another isolation unit in neighbouring Howrah district.

Locals in the area have been advised home quarantine, in accordance with the rules applicable to all containment zones in Bengal, the sources said.

The congested slum, beside the Bagbazar Women's College, has around 1,000 residents.

At least 45 people in the area had been running a temperature since the beginning of the month, one of the sources said.

Their swab samples were collected for examination on June 6, and test reports confirmed that 16 people have contracted the viral disease, he added.

State Health Secretary Narayan Swaroop Nigam, when contacted, said necessary measures for isolation and sanitisation have been initiated in the locality. 

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