Kolkata: Second city cop succumbs to virus on day of record recoveries – The Indian Express

Kolkata News
By: Express News Service | Kolkata |

Published: June 14, 2020 6:07:55 am





On June 6, a constable posted at Shakespeare Police Station had died of the disease. (Representational)

A traffic constable here died of Covid-19 at the state-run Nil Ratan Sircar Medical College and Hospital Saturday, becoming the second Kolkata Police official to succumb to the virus, even as the government said a record 336 people were discharged from hospitals.

Health department officials identified the deceased as Sealdah traffic policeman Dilip Sardar. On June 6, a constable posted at Shakespeare Police Station had died of the disease.

Sardar was among the 12 latest victims, whose deaths pushed up the toll to 463. Five of these deaths occurred in North 24 Parganas district, four in Kolkata, two in Howrah and one in South 24 Parganas.

Meanwhile, the government said 454 more people had tested positive for Covid-19, taking the total number of cases to 10,698. According to the state health bulletin, in which figures are updated till 9 am, most of the latest infections,158, were detected in Kolkata, followed by 69 in North 24 Parganas, and 62 in Howrah. No infections were detected in 24 hours only in Jhargram district, which was declared Covid-19-free on June 11 and has not reported any case since June 6.

The rise in recovery rate to the highest-ever figure of 42.45% took the total number of recovered patients to 4,542. Among those discharged were at least 40 policemen from the Police Training School who had been admitted to KPC Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata’s Jadavpur locality.

“All were [treated]… with Hydroxychloroquine and Azithromycin and they responded well. The police personnel have been advised to go for home isolation and then take tests after 10 days,” said a senior doctor at the hospital.

The policemen had been advised to resume work once they feel “fit enough”, said a senior city police officer.

The recovery rate in Kolkata is 39.29%, down from 42.45% at the start of the month. Among the three other metros, only Delhi has a worse recovery rate of 36.38%. With an 81.24% increase in caseload since June 1 — there were 5,693 active cases as of Saturday — a government official said the state administration had decided to set up 200 “safe homes” to provide temporary shelter to the large number of migrant workers. The health department has identified 341 blocks to build these shelters, which will have one doctor, a few nurses, and health workers who will check on the inmates twice a day.

The government has attributed the recent surge in cases to the return of workers, who will be provided shelter in these homes if they do not have enough sp-ace in their homes to follow the isolation norms. The official said they would be housed in these shelters irrespective of them being asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic.

At present, 1,01,230 migrant returnees are in special centres set up by authorities while 14,941 others are in government quarantine centres. The health department said 1,57,632 people remained isolated at home. The health bulletin reported that 9,008 samples were tested in 24 hours, taking the number of specimens examined till date to 3,24,707. The test positivity rate climbed marginally to 3.29%. (With PTI inputs)

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Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/kolkata/kolkata-second-city-cop-succumbs-to-virus-on-day-of-record-recoveries-6457920/