33-year-old man who died in WB hospital's isolation ward show no coronavirus infection

Kolkata, Mar 09: Blood and swab test results of a diabetic man, who died in the isolation ward of a hospital in West Bengal's Murshidabad district, showed that he did not die of novel coronavirus but due to "other reasons", a senior official of the state health department said on Monday.

The 33-year-old man died in the Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital on Sunday, a day after he was admitted there with symptoms of coronavirus, following his return from Saudi Arabia.

"Reports of his blood and swab samples revealed that he has not died because of COVID-19...He was suffering from fever, cough and cold which are symptoms of the deadly disease, and that is why he was kept in the isolation ward," the official said.

The man, who was diabetic, died of "other reasons", he said. Director of Health Services Ajay Chakraborty had said the man died probably of diabetes. "The man was highly diabetic and was on insulin. He returned home from Saudi Arabia and had no money to take insulin for the last three to four days," he had said.

The health department had quarantined the family members of the deceased in Murshidabad district since they had come in contact with the man after he returned from Saudi Arabia.

"It was suspected that the man could be infected with novel coronavirus. We did not want to take any chance and hence, we had quarantined his family members. Since the samples are tested nagative, we will release them," he added.