The first novel coronavirus death case was reported in West Bengal today after a 55-year-old man died in a premier private hospital along EM Bypass in the city.

The patient, a resident of Dum Dum in the northern part of the city, was undergoing treatment in the critical care unit (CCU) equipped with life-saving devices like ECMO at the private hospital with severe respiratory trouble and high fever since Saturday.

His swab samples were tested COVID-19 positive at both the Central government- run National Institute of Communicable Disease (NICD) at Beliaghata ID Hospital complex and SSKM Hospital laboratories respectively. He died of heart failure with severe respiratory distress caused by the viral disease, according to a spokesperson of the hospital.

His family members who had close contact with him at Dum Dum residence before he was taken to the private hospital has been kept under observation at the government M R Bangur Hospital at Tollygunge, it is learnt. The health department will follow the union health ministry’s guidelines on how to cremate the body of a COVID-19-affected patient.

The administration has decided to cremate the body of this deceased at electric furnace. There was confusion among officials of the state health department whether the patient had any history of travel in a foreign country affected by the COVID-19.

Clearing the air the chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who also holds the health portfolio, said today at the state secretariat Nabanna that he along with his family members had visited Italy, the worst COVID-19-affected country in the world.

The chief minister was holding an all-party meeting at Nabanna to chalk out plans on how to combat the disease ravaging 22 states including Bengal. The Mamata Banerjee government has also planned to accommodate all COVID- 19 suspects and patients at the Medical College Hospital (MCH) at College Street instead of bringing them at several other hospitals in the city.

Health department officials have already sat on a meeting with the MCH authorities and heads of different departments at the premier government teaching hospital to explore the plan as soon as possible.

Sources at Swasthya Bhaban said, “All coronavirus patients will be brought to the MCH accommodating around 1,200 indoor beds. The existing indoor patients who are undergoing treatment at different wards of the hospital will be shifted to all other government hospitals in the city. The move is to bring all these COVID-19 cases under one umbrella at MCH and this will help prevent the spread of the virus.”

On the other hand, microbiologists have requested the Centre to extend the period of Janata curfew in the country for another two weeks to prevent the community transmission of the disease.

Dr A M Deshmukh, president of the Microbiologists Society, India has mailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and union health minister requesting them to extend the period of Janata curfew to another 15 days.