BH CORRESPONDENT, Kolkata: A day after Kolkata reported its first confirmed coronavirus case, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday lashed out at the patient family for their irresponsible response, which might lead into an outbreak of the disease. The mother of the 18-year-old patient, is a bureaucrat, who had been in contact with Nabanna officials.
The chief minister said that yesterday’s (read Tuesday) incident has been a wake up call for everyone in the state.
“I don’t know what kind of checking is going at the airport. Even after the patient was advised to take COVID-19 test by the doctors, he refused do it it. He travelled around the city which means he has been in contacts with many people,” she said.
The CM has also urged the people of the state to take precautions and be responsible. She urged people not to hide at home and visit doctors if they are suffering from any kind of diseases. “You should either isolate yourself or visit a doctor if you see any such symptoms. You can be a VIP or VVIP, it doesn’t matter. You should be more responsible. The case has shown us how we should not behave,” said Mamata.
The CM also reduced the working hours of the state government employees to contain the outbreak.
“From tomorrow employees will work from 10am to 4pm instead of 10am to 5pm,” she said.
The 18-year-old Kolkata boy, who tested positive on Tuesday, had twice denied going to Beliaghata ID Hospital and getting himself tested for the deadly COVID-19. The youth had returned from UK on March 15 and got himself admitted at Beliaghata ID Hospital on March 17, where he was tested positive of coronavirus.
Soon after the news spread that the mother of the youth is a bureaucrat, who had been in contact with Nabanna officials, the 14-storey the state secretariat is being sanitised since Wednesday morning. The state government is also on the hunt to trace the people the boy, his parents and drivers came in touch with.
Meanwhile, social media has gone berserk ever since the news that the UK-returned Kolkata youth, who tested positive for coronavirus wasted two days without getting himself admitted at Beliaghata ID Hospital. The netizens are blaming the mother and the boy for their irresponsible behaviour and how they have spread the disease among other Kolkata dwellers.
The West Bengal government invoked the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, and extended the shutdown of schools, colleges and universities till April 15.
