One more death of an infant in the Malda Medical College and Hospital (MMCH) last night has taken the number of children dying from a viral outbreak to seven in the past four days in the district.

The six-month-old girl was admitted in the MMCH from Manikchak with fever and jaundice yesterday afternoon, sources said. MMCH authorities said that they did not get enough time to provide her proper treatment as they said she was brought to the hospital in the last stages of her illness.

According to the parents of the deceased child, their daughter had been suffering from fever for the past four days and that she was undergoing treatment in the primary health centre. They said that her condition deteriorated and that the same prompted them to take her to the MMCH.

“The child was brought in the last stages, but we tried our level best. A total of 74 children have been admitted now in the hospital, with eight in critical condition. Twenty-four children were admitted afresh and the blood and swab samples of the children have been sent to Kolkata for tests,” Medical Superintendent and Vice-Principal of the MMCH, Dr Puranjay Saha, said.

MMCH officials have said that the fever, cold and breathing problems were common this time of the year due to the changing seasons. They said it was an outbreak of some common viruses and that there was no unidentified virus or mystery illness among the children. Hospitals in several north Bengal districts have seen an unusual flow of children suffering from fever, cold and cough, and breathing problems of late.

Amid the concerns and the talk of the anticipated third wave of Covid-19 hitting the region soon and amid claims that the same would affect children the most, doctors and state officials have said that the virus stalking these children was mostly the common respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) or other common viruses.

Several samples of the ailing children sent from Siliguri and Jalpaiguri to the School of Tropical Medicine in Kolkata have tested positive for the RSV. The situation prompted the state government to send a team of experts to north Bengal, who have already visited the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital, the Siliguri District Hospital (SDH) and the Jalpaiguri District Hospital (JDH).

As the team said that there was nothing to be alarmed about, around 100 beds have been augmented at the NBMCH and SDH to accommodate more children.