Coronavirus: WB man with no travel history abroad dies, first in state

With this, the nation-wide toll of coronavirus reaches 8.

West Bengal reported its first coronavirus death as a 57-year-old man from Kolkata has succumbed to the infection on Monday taking the national death toll to eight.

The deceased was a resident of Dumdum in North 24 Parganas district, which has been locked down by the authorities yesterday.

The person reportedly had no history of travelling abroad, but had visited Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh, returned by train in February. He was hospitalised in a private hospital on March 16, with cough and fever, and passed away after a heart attack.

"The man had acute respiratory distress syndrome. We had taken proper protective measures but he died this afternoon," a spokesperson for the hospital said.

His family members are under observation in an isolation ward at a state-run hospital, state government officials said.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who was in an all-party meet instructed officials to inform the hospital authority to act immediately to handover the body for the last rites as per guidelines. 

So far there are seven positive cases reported from the eastern state, all of whom have been kept in isolation wards of Beliaghata ID Hospital.