Coronavirus patient, 64, dies in Mumbai; third death in India
NEW DELHI/ MUMBAI : A 64-year-old coronavirus patient died at Mumbai’s Kasturba hospital on Tuesday, India’s third reported death linked to Covid-19 infection.
This is Maharashtra’s first coronavirus death. India’s first confirmed coronavirus-linked death was reported on Tuesday last when a 76-year-old man from Karnataka’s Kalburgi died while being transported from one hospital to another. That he had tested positive to Covid-19 was confirmed only two days later on Thursday.
The man who died in Mumbai today came back from Dubai on March 5. He did not disclose his travel history and went to a private hospital, where he was tested for respiratory problems, the authorities said, adding that the cause of his death is still being ascertained. The man’s wife has also been found COVID-19 positive but is stable.
Delhi reported its first death from novel coronavirus the next day when a 68-year-old woman from Janakpuri, admitted to Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital, succumbed to the virus. She was the mother of a confirmed case of Covid-19.
Maharashtra’s first death due to Covid-19 comes at a time when the state is moving toward a partial shutdown in an effort to fortify its defences. The state government has called the next 20 days “decisive” in determining the spread of the highly contagious infection that was detected in Maharashtra only on March 9 and has infected 39 people.
India has 125 cases of coronavirus and has reported three deaths so far. A total of 13 patients in the country have recovered successfully. Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Director-General Dr Balram Bhargava said, “We already know that we are in stage 2. We are in not in stage 3, clearly.”
Meanwhile, minister of state for external affairs V Muraleedharan is in self-quarantine after he visited a Kerala hospital which reportedly hid the travel details of a doctor who later tested positive for coronavirus.
The information was reportedly withheld in view of the visit by Muraleedharan. The minister’s office was in contact with hospital director three times before his visit.
The number of deaths around the world linked to the new coronavirus topped 7,000 after Italy announced a new surge in fatalities. A total of 7,007 people have died, with a 175,536 infections recorded globally. China has the highest number of fatalities at 3,213, followed by Italy with 2,158 deaths and almost 28,000 cases.
Among the patients who are currently positive, are 22 foreigners in Haryana. Maharashtra is still the state which has the highest number of patients – the figure is still 39. Two more people, residents of Noida near Delhi, tested positive for the disease. In Ladakh, three more people have tested positive for COVID-19, taking the total number of cases to six, Ladakh Commissioner Secretary Rigzin Sampheal was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi today warned of an “economic devastation” in the next six months, saying “people of the country are going to go through unimaginable pain” if India doesn’t prepare itself amid coronavirus outbreak.
(With Agency Inputs ).
