India sees third COVID-19 death, number of affected climbs to 126
17 Mar 2020
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A 63-year-old COVID-19 patient died in Mumbai Kasturba Hospital today, the first case in the state, taking the toll of the disease in the country to three, after one patient each died in Karnataka and Delhi earlier.
All three died were aged people, above 60 years of age, confirming the fact that the virus does more harm to elder people than younger ones. The dead include a 76-year-old male in Karnataka, a 65-year-old woman in Delhi and now a 63-year-old male in Mumbai.
The number of people affected by the new coronavirus across the country also rose to 126, with Maharashra reporting the highest number of positive cases.
The 63-year-old man, who returned from a trip to Dubai, was under treatment at the state-run Kasturba Hospital in south central Mumbai for the past five days. He had not disclosed his travel history.
“The COVID-19 positive patient was in a private hospital for five days and was subsequently referred to the Kasturba Hospital, Mumbai. The patient had a travel history to Dubai, which he reportedly did not disclose at the time of his admission to the private hospital,” union health ministry said. His wife, who also tested COVID-19 positive, is reported to be stable.
Meanwhile minister of state for external affairs V Muraleedharan has self quarantined at his Delhi residence after he returned from Kerala where he had attended a medical conference that was addressed by a COVId-19 infected doctor, who was later quarantined.
Muraleedharan will remain in isolation for 14 days and will return after a final check.
The Parliament was also declared sine die as the government grappled with crisis management – bringing people to screening centres and spreading community awareness for containment of the viral outbreak.
With several people, including at least one doctor in Kerala, ducking screening and self-declaration protocols to move around despite high risk of infections and with no law to penalise such people, the government’s task is arduous.
The centre on Monday issued a social distancing advisory but people are taking things lightly. “Social distancing is the only effective measure available to India to stop the virus from growing but that cannot happen unless people cooperate. We still see people travelling, traffic rush on roads is still the same. This must stop,” says leading medical expert Devi Shetty, adding that cooperation is the key.
The number of novel coronavirus cases in the country rose to 126 on Tuesday after fresh cases were reported from several states, the health ministry said. These include 22 foreign nationals and three persons who died in Delhi, Karnataka and Maharashtra.
Delhi has so far reported seven positive cases while Uttar Pradesh has recorded 13 cases, including one foreigner. Karnataka has 8 coronavirus patients while Maharashtra has 39, including 3 foreigners. Ladakh has reported four cases while Jammu and Kashmir has three. Telangana has reported four cases. Rajasthan has also reported four cases, including that of two foreigners. Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Punjab have reported one case each. Odisha reported its first case on Monday. In Haryana, there are 15 cases, which include 14 foreigners, while Uttarakhand has reported one case. Kerala has recorded 24 cases, including two foreign nationals. The number also includes three patients who were discharged from hospitals last month.
