A marriage ceremony that turned into a Covid-19 hotspot in Bengal

Health officials are worried because of the large number of people who attended the marriage ceremony after which three persons have tested positive for coronavirus.

Three persons, including two senior citizens, who attended a marriage party in East Midnapore district of West Bengal on March 15 have tested positive for Covid-19, even as more than 500 people who attend the reception have been asked to stay in home quarantine.

A paramedic staff member enters a newly setup isolation ward for the people who suffer symptoms of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at a hospital in Kolkata.(REUTERS)

Senior health officials of the district have tagged the incident as ‘worrisome’ because of the large number of people involved.

Among those who attended the marriage were four of the groom’s father’s friends who came from the UK and Singapore. There were guests from Odisha, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand too.

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The first one to be detected with the disease was a 66-year-old man. He tested positive on March 25 and is presently admitted in a private hospital in east Kolkata in a critical condition. Following this, at least 13 people, from three families, who had come in touch with him, were kept in the government’s isolation facilities. Of them, two persons, the 56-year-old mother of the groom and a 76-year-old aunt of her, tested positive for Covid-19 on March 28. The 76-year-old woman is a resident of Narendrapur in South 24 Parganas.

Health officials are worried about how the 66-year-old man contracted coronavirus.

“It’s worrisome because the groom’s father, a homoeopathy doctor at Egra town in West Midnapore district, has categorically told us that the 66-year-old who was the first to be tested positive did not come in contact with his friends who came from abroad,” said a health official of East Midnapore district.

Health officials are yet to track down the source of the spread of the virus. The groom’s father is also in isolation. “We had sent swab samples of 13 people to government laboratories. Two have tested positive while others have tested negative. We will send more samples for tests if other show any kind of symptoms,” said a government official.

District chief medical officer of health Nitai Chandra Mandal said that a list of invitees was collected from the host family on March 26 and people are being tracked down.

“A special health camp was set up and more than 500 people who attended the reception have been screened in the camp and in other hospitals. As of now they have not shown any symptoms. But they have been asked to stay in home isolation as a precautionary measure,” said a senior district official.

After attending the reception, the 66-year-old man had spent two nights at a hotel in the coastal town of Digha. The hotel has been sealed and its staff sent on home isolation. It was at this hotel that he fell ill on March 18. There were at least 34 people in that hotel on that day. All of them have been contacted and asked to quarantine themselves at home.

More than 35,000 people are presently in home quarantine across the state till now.

The 66-year-old man spent another four days during his illness at the home of his relative, the homeopathy doctor, in Egra town before being hospitalised in Kolkata.

A second hotel at Egra town where the 66-year-old man and his family had stayed from March 12 to 16 has also been sealed and sanitized.