At least five persons have tested positive for Covid in the last three days and are under treatment at two private hospitals in the city.
A 79-year-old woman from Santoshpur, an 83-year-old woman from Howrah’s Danesh Sheikh Lane and an 83-year-old man from Garcha in Ballygunge are admitted in the intensive care unit of AMRI Hospitals, Dhakuria.
“All of them were admitted for other ailments. They were tested for Covid because of some symptoms and the results turned out to be positive,” said an official of the hospital. The official said all of them tested positive on December 24.
Two more Covid patients are under treatment at Belle Vue Clinic.
A government official said one of them, aged 75, is a resident of Hooghly’s Konnagar. The other, 69 years old, is from Beadon Street in north Calcutta, according to the official.
“Both of them have complaints like hypertension and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder,” said the official. “The hospital informed us about the two patients on Tuesday.”
The state health department has not yet provided any figures on how many people have tested positive for Covid in this spell.
The department has asked all hospitals to keep isolation beds ready, remain prepared for RT-PCR tests for Covid and increase the use of masks on their premises.
The instructions, issued in a meeting on Friday, follow a rise in the number of Covid cases in some states.
A senior official in the state health department told The Telegraph on Friday that a surge in respiratory illnesses occurs every winter and instructions have been issued to ensure that everyone receives proper care in hospitals.