Man who died in Bengal hospital was COVID-19 negative

Kolkata, March 9 (IANS) A 33-year-old man who died in a state-run Medical College in West Bengal's Murshidabad district amid apprehensions that he had coronavirus infection, did not have the deadly disease, his test results confirmed on Monday.

"The swab sample of the patient had been sent to the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases (NICED) on Sunday morning soon after he was admitted. However, he died early in the evening before we could get the report.

"We have received the report today (Monday). The test result is negative. In other words, he did not have coronavirus infection," Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital Medical Superintendent cum vice-principal Debdas Saha told IANS over phone.

The youth, a resident of Nabagram, fell sick while returning home on Saturday after flying to the NSCBI Airport here earlier in the day from Saudi Arabia, where he used to work as a cleaner.

As he was running a fever, and complained of respiratory distress, his family members took him to the Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital in Baharampur on Sunday where the doctors admitted him at an isolation ward after a preliminary check-up.

"He had uncontrolled blood sugar and that could have caused his death, " said Saha.

According to the victim's family members, he had been staying in Saudi Arabia for the past five years. But over the past two years, his blood glucose levels had gone up. Recently, the levels increased further, following which his employers sent him home.