Coronavirus: First death in West Bengal, 57-year-old resident of Kolkata dies of COVID-19

West Bengal on Monday registered its first death from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, which is spreading like wildfire across India and the world. The deceased has been identified as a 57-year-old who had been undergoing treatment at the AMRI hospital in Kolkata.

A resident of the Dum Dum neighbourhood in the city, the man had returned from Chhattisgarh's Bilaspur on March 13 and had reportedly visited a mall in North Kolkata. He was rushed to a local nursing home in Nagerbazar on March 14 after feeling unwell, where he displayed symptoms for mild viral fever. As his condition worsened, the man was later taken to the AMRI hospital on March 16 for better treatment.

Reports confirmed that the man passed away on Monday afternoon, after testing positive for coronavirus infection.

Notably, the man's immediate relatives are also admitted at the hospital due to fear of the virus infection. While the rest of the people who had come into contact with the man have been kept under observation, it was reported. Authorities have engaged in further contact tracing to determine who else could be potentially affected.

With this, the death toll in India due to the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak has now increased to 8.