Cook at private hospital in Kolkata tests positive for COVID-19

A cook at a private hospital in Kolkata tested positive for COVID-19, following which the medical facility shut down one of its kitchens, and placed his co-workers under home quarantine.

Kolkata:A cook at Belle Vue Clinic, one of the city's top hospitals, tested positive for COVID-19, following which the medical facility shut down one of its kitchens, and placed his co-workers under home quarantine, a senior official at the facility said on Sunday.

The cook, in his early 50s, was admitted to an isolation ward of the private hospital as he complained of uneasiness and exhibited symptoms of COVID-19, he said.

After test results confirmed he had contracted the disease, the Belle Vue Clinic employee was immediately shifted to Beliaghata ID hospital on Saturday, the official said.

A doctor and three nurses who treated him at the private facility have been put in home isolation, he said.

"The doctor and the three nurses had used protective gear while treating him, but as a precautionary measure, all three have been sent on 14-day home quarantine.

"We have two kitchens, one of which has been sent shut down," he said, adding that the isolation ward at the hospital, where the cook had stayed, was being disinfected.

West Bengal has reported a total of 541 COVID-19 cases so far. Of them, 18 have succumbed to the disease, the state health department has said.

According to the Union health ministry, the number of COVID-19-stricken patients in the state stands at 571.

(PTI)