The health department has tracked down 28 flyers who had travelled with the Kalimpong woman who died of COVID-19 at the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital (NBMCH) on Monday. The woman had flown in to Bagdogra in a private airline from Chennai on 19 March. Among the co-passengers, 24 hail from Darjeeling district, including seven residents of the Siliguri Sub Division, while the remaining are from Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar districts.

A co-passenger of Cooch Behar district, seated near the 44-year-old woman, has been admitted in the isolation ward of the Cooch Behar Medical College. Officials at the Bagdogra airport said they had given to the authorities the list of passengers who travelled with the woman in the flight.

All other passengers have been advised to go for immediate medical check-up and stay in home isolation, health department officials said. “Asymptomatic passengers have been sent in home quarantine,” an official said. Darjeeling district chief medical officer of health Dr Pralay Acharya said the health department had taken necessary steps.

The Kalimpong woman became the first COVID-19 patient from north Bengal, and she died in the wee hours of Monday. The health department has already quarantined high-risk contacts in Kalimpong and Jalpaiguri districts and others are in isolation wards. COVID-19 hospitals: The health department said a 100- bed COVID-19 ‘hospital’ will become functional in Siliguri soon.

Sources said a few more private health facilities will be selected for Darjeeling district for the same. State tourism minister Gautam Deb said one such hospital will be set up on the basis of infrastructure in a private nursing home at Fulbari in Jalpaiguri district.

“Another will be arranged for at Matigara,” Mr Deb said. According to him, 18 quarantine centres have been arranged for in Darjeeling district–eight-nine in the Plains and the rest in the Hills. Minister visits hospitals: Three persons, including one woman, were admitted in the isolation ward in the Darjeeling District Hospital, and 13 others admitted in the fever clinic.

Mr Deb visited the hospital and the NBMCH to review the situation today. He held a meeting with doctors and supervised cleanliness at the NBMCH. The Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC) and the Siliguri Jalpaiguri Development Authority, meanwhile, conducted the cleanliness drive.

Later, Mr Deb chaired a meeting with the Indian Medical Association. Mayor on health infrastructure: Siliguri Mayor Asok Bhattacharya said the health infrastructure to deal with the novel coronavirus should be strengthened.

According to him, there should be adequate supply of protective equipment for doctors and other frontline health workers. He said there should be proper facilities at quarantine centres and isolation wards, and that the civic body would prepare teams of volunteers in every ward to create awareness. The mayor visited the NBMCH today and said that there was a lack of preparedness there.