Railways reports 2nd COVID-19 death: Technician dies in Siliguri, 24 quarantined

New Delhi, Apr 06: The Railways has reported its second COVID-19 casualty as a 53-year-old technician with no travel history died at a hospital in West Bengal’s Siliguri, prompting authorities to order home-quarantine for his 12 colleagues and as many medics who treated him.

The deceased, who was a technician at the diesel shed at West Bengal’s Siliguri, died at the isolation ward of the North Bengal Medical College & Hospital in the town on Sunday, officials said, adding he had tested positive for coronavirus.

The national transporter had reported its first COVID-19 fatality on March 23 when an accounts department employee at the general manager's office in the Eastern Railway had died in Kolkata.

Giving details about the latest fatality, the officials said initially, he was admitted with fever and cough on March 24 at NJP Railway Hospital, from where he was referred to the Desun Nursing Home on March 25, The next day, he was shifted to the isolation ward of the North Bengal Medical College & Hospital (NBMC&H).

Officials said that although his first two test reports for 'COVID-19' returned negative at NBMC&H, he was quarantined for further observation. Another test conducted on April 4 returned positive, they said.

Sources said that while the employee had no travel history, he was admitted to the same isolation ward as a woman who had tested positive for coronavirus on March 30 and later died. On Sunday, the family of the staffer were also quarantined.

¨Two doctors and 10 paramedical staff who have come in direct contact with the patient have been put in home quarantine. Extensive sanitisation of the hospital, diesel shed and railway colony where the staffer stayed is being taken up.

¨Apart from this, 12 shed staff who worked with him have been given instructions to go into self-quarantine for 14 days,¨ Northeast Frontier Railway spokesperson Subhanan Chanda told PTI. This is the second case of railway staffer dying after testing positive for coronavirus.

In fact, the first railway staffer who died on May 23 in Kolkata was the first COVID-19 death reported by West Bengal. He worked in the accounts department at the general manager's office in the Eastern Railway.