8-yr-old boy, nurse test positive for COVID-19 in Kolkata hospital, 11 med staff down with fever

Amidst the countrywide fear, a boy and a nurse of Indian Institute of Child Health, Kolkata tested positive for coronavirus on Friday.

Kolkata:An eight-year-old boy, admitted to the Indian Institute of Child Health (ICH) with respiratory distress, and a nurse at the facility have tested positive for COVID-19, sources at the hospital said on Friday.

At least 10 more nurses at the hospitals neo-natal unit and a ward boy are currently down with fever, the sources said. It is not known whether they are also infected with the coronavirus as their samples have not been collected yet.

The boy, a resident of Karaya Road, was rushed to the hospital on Thursday morning after he complained of uneasiness and breathing problems. His samples were sent for examination shortly thereafter. His father said the boy had been suffering from breathing problems since birth and had no recent travel history.

"Ours is a small family of four and no one is ill. It's surprising and shocking that my son got infected," the father, a bank employee, said. A senior official at the ICH said the boy's parents were told to take him to MR Bangur hospital on Friday morning after he tested positive for the disease. His nose and throat swabs were sent to the Tata Medical Centre in Rajarhat for examination.

The 34-year-old nurse, who was also found to have contracted the disease, is a resident of Jibantala in South 24 Parganas, ICH sources said. The mother of a six-year-old has been working at the neo-natal unit of the ICH. All 10 nurses, who are down with fever, are her colleagues at the unit, sources said.

A nurse at the facility, speaking on the condition of anonymity, complained that medical workers, who chose to stay back at the hospital amid the lockdown, were living in cramped quarters without proper protection.

"At least 26 of us are putting up in a cramped room at the hospital. We have not been given any mask or protective gear. We don't know what's in store for us. We are quite scared," she said.

Nobody from the hospital administration was immediately available for comments. Meanwhile, over 35 health workers, including doctors at the Sagar Dutta Medical College and Hospital, have been placed under quarantine after two of their colleagues tested positive for the disease, health department officials said. (PTI report)