Kolkata: Fire services minister Sujit Bose tests Covid-19 positive; 75 contacts in home quarantine

Kolkata: Sujit Bose , state fire services minister, has become the first member of the Mamata Banerjee cabinet to test positive for Covid-19 .

Bose’s test report, that came late on Thursday, has put under home quarantine over 75 persons, including the entire fire department top brass, several Trinamool Congress councillors and party workers who accompanied him while the minister was overseeing post-Amphan restoration work.

Bose last visited Nabanna on May 19.

The minister and his wife presumably contracted the disease from a full-time domestic help who tested positive for coronavirus four days ago.

“We went to a private hospital to undergo tests as a precautionary measures after one of our full-time domestic helps tested positive a few days back. The reports came on Thursday evening and we were found to be Covid-positive,” Bose told TOI, adding that he was “feeling fine” and had “not developed any symptoms whatsoever till now”.

“I am following the doctor’s advice and taking rest at home in isolation. My family is also under home isolation. I will undergo another test after a week,” the minister added.

A senior official of a private hospital off EM Bypass said while Bose and his wife had tested positive, his children had tested negative for the infection. The domestic help has been admitted to a hospital in Rajarhat.

From camping at his party office in Lake Town to overseeing cutting of trees and restoration of power in Salt Lake, Bose had spent a busy week in the aftermath of Cyclone Amphan. He even visited the Tarakeshwar home of firefighter Sukanta Sinha Roy who died of electrocution on Wednesday while trying to remove branches of a tree at Howrah’s Belur.

The news of Bose testing positive naturally sent waves of anxiety down the party and fire department rank and file. Senior fire department officials — director general of fire services Jag Mohan, director-in-charge Avijit Pandey, deputy director Tarun Sinha and Howrah divisional head Dipankar Pathak — and several firemen have gone into home quarantine. “We have taken all corrective and precautionary measures as per the standard protocol,” Pandey told TOI.

Along with the fire officials, a number of Trinamool workers including local councillors and Bose’s personal security guards and assistants are also in home quarantine. A massive sanitisation drive was carried out on Friday at the minister’s Sreebhumi residence and Canal Street neighbourhood. Apart from the road, gates of all residential buildings, shutters of roadside shops and parked cars were sprayed with disinfectants. Sreebhumi Sporting club, a frequent stop for Bose and a base for his relief work, was disinfected. The lane off Canal Street leading to his home has been sealed.

According to health department sources, swab samples of around 20 party workers who had been in contact with the minister during his relief work have been collected for testing. “Around 15 workers identified as close contacts will be tested on Saturday. All are in home quarantine. None, however, has any symptom,” said the source at Swasthya Bhawan.

(With inputs from Tamaghna Banerjee & Sumati Yengkhom)