Another patient has died in the Covid hospital (Ayush Hospital) in Alipurduar yesterday evening. Health department officials, however, said that the throat swab samples of the 50-year-old male patient have been sent for Covid-19 tests and that reports are awaited. It is learnt that the man had visited the Alipurduar district hospital yesterday, from where doctors sent him to the Covid hospital in Tapsikhata village under the Alipurduar police station as he had fever and cold.
“We collected the throat swab of the patient before he died. We have sent the samples for tests, but the report is awaited. We cannot say whether the patient had been suffering from Covid-19 until we have the test reports,” said the Deputy chief medical officer of health-2 in Alipurduar, Dr Subarna Goswami.
It may be mentioned here that one patient, 60, died of Covid-19-like symptoms in the Ayush Hospital on 19 April too. The man, however, had tested negative for the novel coronavirus, officials have said. Villagers at Pradhan Para under the Salkumar- 1 Grampanchayat in Alipurduar block-1 clashed with the police as the latter tried to bury the dead on 19 April.
The irate villagers also torched four police vehicles that night. “This time around, the administration is not in a hurry to perform the last rites of the dead man. The body is being kept with full precautions,” sources said. On the other hand, another child who had fever and cold died in the Alipurduar district hospital today. Hospital officials, however, said that the child died due to septicemia.