Three migrant labourers who had returned home to Malda were forced to go to hospital by neighbours who feared they could be carrying the coronavirus infection, in a rerun of a youth in North Dinajpur’s Raiganj being made to spend a night in hospital isolation over similar fears.

The three men in Malda, one of whom had intermittent coughs and another fever while the third showed no symptoms, were forced to get themselves checked at Malda Medical College and Hospital.

One of the persons is a 55-year-old who returned home to Balurchar in Malda town two days ago after a five-month stint as a mason in Maharashtra. When neighbours found him coughing occasionally on Wednesday, they asked his family to take him to hospital.

“We cannot take any risk and so asked him to consult a doctor. He was initially reluctant but we kept insisting through the day and finally he went to the medical college for tests,” said a neighbour. He was not found to be infected and was discharged.

On Tuesday night, a youth in Itahar block of Malda who had fever was forced to visit the medical college as neighbours suspected that he was infected with Covid-19. “We have not found anything abnormal in him. Even then, he has been advised to stay in isolation at his home for two weeks,” said Bhusan Chakraborty, the chief medical officer of health in Malda.

A young carpenter who had returned from Bangalore was stopped from going home in Gajole, made to sit under a tree by locals for about five hours and sent to the hospital. He too was not found to be infected and was discharged.