A six-year-old girl died at the Jalpaiguri District Hospital on Tuesday, at a time when over 100 children have been admitted to the facility allegedly suffering from influenza-like illness (ILI).

Most of the children are down with fever and health authorities are concerned with the development amid Covid-19 pandemic.

Sources said Kaveri Roy, a resident of Kuchlibari village in Cooch Behar district, was admitted to the paediatric unit of the hospital on Monday. “She breathed her last on Tuesday morning,” said a source.

Susanta Roy, the officer-on-special duty, north Bengal, said: “We are saddened by every death. The child was down with pneumonia but she had a hole in her heart since birth. The doctors tried their best but they could not save her.”

Kamini Roy, father of the deceased, said that her daughter was suffering from high fever for the past three-four days. “We admitted her to the sub-divisional hospital at Mekhligang on Sunday with high fever. She was referred to the Jalpaiguri hospital on Monday.”

On Tuesday, 101, children were admitted with high fever at the Jalpaiguri district hospital.

Health authorities have taken swab samples of 10 children which have been sent to Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine for examination.

Sources said on Tuesday, blood samples of another 41 children were collected to check for vector diseases like Japanese encephalitis, chikungunya, dengue, scrub typhoid and even Covid-19.