A 73-year-old man, who had tested positive for coronavirus and was in a coma due to kidney failure in Rajasthan's Bhilwara district, died on Thursday, 26 March, while five more persons tested positive for the COVID-19, taking the total number of infected patients in the state to 43, an official said.
Of the five more persons, two tested positive for infection in Bhilwara and one each in Jaipur, Jodhpur and Jhunjhunu, he said.
It was the second death of a corona-positive patient in Rajasthan, but authorities refused to attribute the deaths directly to the coronavirus infection. Earlier, an Italian tourist, who had recovered from coronavirus, had died later of a heart attack due to lungs and heart problems at a private hospital in the state capital.
On the septuagenarian's death, Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Rohit Kumar Singh said, “A death has occurred but the patient was in coma due to kidney failure and diabetes before coronavirus spread in Bhilwara. So, it would not be appropriate to say that he died of COVID-19 as the death occurred due to pre-existing diseases.”
The 73-year-old man with the chronic kidney and diabetes issues was admitted to a Bhilwara private hospital, whose three doctors and nine nursing staffers had been found positive for coronavirus infection.
The second death occurred on a day when five more persons tested positive. Both the patients, who tested positive in Jaipur and Jhunjhunu, have travel history to the Middle East whereas the two in Bhilwara are close relatives of the patient who died today.
With this, the total number of COVID-19 cases in the state so far rose to 43. So far, 19 persons have tested positive for coronavirus infection in Bhilwara where doctors and nursing staff of a private hospital were found infected. Jaipur reported nine cases, Jhunjhunu and Jodhpur five.
While two cases have been reported from Pratapgarh, Pali and Sikar districts have reported one case each. Three persons have been cured of infection so far in the state. The state administration had initially imposed a curfew and sealed the borders in Bhilwara and Jhunjhunu districts following which the entire state was brought under lockdown from March 22. A massive screening and survey of suspected coronavirus carriers is underway in the state as health teams in large numbers are trying to trace the contagion.
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