KMC disinfection drive to allay fears

KOLKATA: KMC on Thursday carried out an intensive disinfection drive in a north Kolkata neighbourhood off Bidhan Sarani for three hours to allay fears of local residents. Panic had gripped the locality after word went around that an 85-year-old local, whose body had been brought to the neighbourhood after she died at a hospital off Amherst Street, had tested positive for Covid-19.
Hospital sources said the woman had been tested for Covid-19 and that the report had arrived after her death but refused to divulge what the report contained.
The KMC team sprayed chemical disinfectants on the road, pavements and buildings to cleanse all the surfaces. While the drive usually takes around 90 minutes, the team spent twice the time in the locality. The drive covered the entire stretch between Ram Mandir and Bina Cinema. All households close to the building in which the decased used to live were covered in the sanitization drive. A civic team would keep a close vigil on the locality for the next three weeks.
“The five relatives have been quarantined at a facility in New Town. Another 15 persons who had come in contact with the deceased immediately before or after her death have been traced,” said Trinamool councillor Mohammed Jasimuddin. The police, along with Jasimuddin, chartered out the future course of action, including the possibility of strictly regulating entry into the area and and exiting it. They also coordinated distribution of masks and sanitizers in 100-odd households lying nearby so to disinfect the interiors.