West Bengal govt identifies 8 passengers who travelled with coronavirus-affected Kerala student

The West Bengal Health Department on Sunday traced eight passengers who had travelled in the same flight as that of the coronavirus-affected Kerala resident and landed at the airport here on January 23, a senior official said.

These passengers were seated in the two rows in front and behind the Kerala resident's seat, he said.

While two passengers, who had landed at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport on January 23, were identified as residents of Asansol and Odisha, details of the other six were also traced on Sunday, West Bengal Director of Health Services Ajay Kumar Chakraborty said.

Three passengers of that flight, who were sitting either in the front or the back four seats of the coronavirus affected-Kerala man, were identified as Chinese nationals, he said.

One of the passengers was from New Delhi, while two others were from West Bengal, he added.

"All the eight persons have been identified. The three Chinese have returned to their country and the Delhi resident has also gone back home," Chakraborty told PTI.

The two from West Bengal have been advised to follow instructions of the state health department, another official said.

"Blood specimens have been collected and sent for tests and they (passengers) have been sent to stay in isolation in their respective homes. We are in touch with them," he said.

The first confirmed case of coronavirus was reported from Kerala on January 30 when a student studying in Wuhan University returned home.

The student, who had returned to Kerala from Wuhan via Kolkata, went to the Thrissur General Hospital with possible symptoms of novel coronavirus and was quickly quarantined.

A second case was reported from Kerala on Sunday as a person with a travel history to China tested positive for coronavirus.