A private hospital in the city had to shut down its kitchen after a cook tested positive for Covid-19 while another stopped admitting patients because a nurse and a ward boy have been infected.

The cook at Belle Vue who tested positive for Covid19 had been on leave for about two weeks, the authorities of the hospital on Loudon Street said. But the kitchen where he worked was shut down for sanitisation.

“Our cook was on leave when he took ill. He visited our flu clinic last Thursday and we arranged for his blood test and a CT scan of thorax before admitting him to the isolation ward. His swab sample was sent for the Covid19 test,” Pradip Tondon, CEO of Belle Vue, said on Sunday.

The test report came at 11am on Friday and showed that the cook was Covid19 positive. He was transferred to the Infectious Diseases Hospital, Beleghata, where he is undergoing treatment.

Eleven employees of the hospital kitchen who live in the cook’s neighbourhood have been asked to remain in home quarantine for 14 days, Tondon said.

Chances of patients admitted to the hospital having been infected are low as the cook had been on leave, the hospital authorities said. The kitchen where the cook worked is attached to the main building of the hospital catering to patients admitted to that wing.

The hospital has another kitchen in the annexe building, where it runs an ophthalmology treatment centre. The kitchen in that wing is outsourced to a private agency, said officials.

“The kitchen in the main building will remain shut for a few days this week as a precautionary measure. The kitchen in the annexe will serve patients in the main building, too, during this time,” Tondon said.

The Marwari Relief Society Hospital on Rabindra Sarani stopped taking in patients on Saturday after a nurse and ward boy tested positive for Covid19, officials said on Sunday.“The reports came on Friday night and both tested positive. We have stopped admission of patients. There are 30odd patients in the hospital now. Some of them have requested discharge,” a hospital official said.

The nurse had fever about a week ago and the ward boy had accompanied her in an ambulance to the Infectious Diseases Hospital, Beleghata, the official said. Both are admitted to the government designated hospital at Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute unit in New Town.

Several doctors attached to the hospital have ben reluctant to report to duty after hearing of the two cases, hospital officials said.

Metro reported on Sunday Bhagirathi Neotia Hospital on Rawdon Street and Institute of Neurosciences at Mullickbazar had to shut down one floor each after patients tested for Covid19. The hospitals are being fumigated.