The first confirmed novel coronavirus case was detected in West Bengal on Tuesday, as a youth who returned from the UK recently tested positive.
The youth, who came back from the UK on March 15, was admitted to the state's referral hospital for infectious diseases ID Hospital, Beliaghata, on Tuesday morning.
His sample, sent to the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases (NICED), was found to be positive in the evening.
Soon after receiving the test report, the hospital and state health department officials transferred him to a special isolation ward earmarked for confirmed Coronavirus cases.
His parents and driver were also being brought to the ID hospital for quarantine. According to health department officials, their samples would be sent to NICED on Tuesday night itself.
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According to sources, the youth, who studies in England, had attended a birthday party there in which a number of invitees later developed the deadly disease.
The affected male is the son of a bureaucrat in the Bengal government. He apparently did not have any symptoms of Novel Coronavirus and had reportedly refused to quarantine, informed sources.
However, when the health department officials learnt that a number of people who attended the party, including his girlfriend, had got the disease, they asked him to get admitted on Monday.
However, his parents took him to the hospital only on Tuesday.
Bengal Cinema Halls To Remain Shut This Month
All cinema halls in West Bengal will remain closed till March 31, while film shoots in the state would remain suspended upto March 30 in view of the novel coronavirus threat, various stakeholders announced on Tuesday.
"We have decided that all cinema halls will remain shut till March 31 and the decision will come into effect immediately," an Eastern India Motion Pictures Association (EIMPA) official told the media.
State minister Aroop Biswas announced all shoots have been cancelled till March 30.
The minister, considered the bridge between the government and the film industry, held a meeting with various bodies of artistes, technicians, producers and film channels on the situation.
The EIMPA official said though the industry would suffer huge losses, the priority now was to take all measures to combat the lethal disease."There will be huge losses if cinema halls and all film shoots are closed for such a long period, considering the present situation of the Bengal film industry. We will use the time till March 31 to find out ways to recover the losses," she said.
Television serials and soaps which do not have fresh episodes ready will go for repeat telecasts. The decisions came a day after state Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee stressed on closing down all cinema halls for the time being to help tackle the Covid-19 threat.
The entire matter would be revisited after Banerjee holds a review meeting on March 30.
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