Scare over discarded PPE kit in south Kolkata

KOLKATA: Fear gripped the residents of a posh locality at Mandeville Gardens after they had spotted an abandoned PPE kit lying on the footpath in front of an apartment on Wednesday. Though the residents were not sure whether the object, stashed inside a large polythene bag, was a PPE kit, they remained indoors in fear of being infected with Covid-19.
Locals said a sweeper had seen the polythene bag on Wednesday morning and he had alerted others immediately. “It looked like a PPE kit, but we could not be sure of that as nobody dared to go closer,” said Arup Ganguly, a resident of the apartment. “Though we did not know what was inside, residents were scared and most of them stayed indoors throughout the day,” he added. What added more to the fear was that the resident of a local apartment had tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday.
Arunoday Das Bhaumik, manager with the Greentech Environment Management, said there is a specific procedure to dispose of a PPE kit. “Under the bio medical waste rules, the kit should be incinerated following specific guidelines,”he added.