The Yogi Adityanath government has announced a state mourning after the demise of Uttar Pradesh Minister Kamal Rani Varun. The minister, aged 62, died of the novel coronavirus on Sunday, 2 August, IANS reported.
She had been admitted to the Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS) on July 18.
PM Narendra Modi took to Twitter to condole her passing, saying “her whole life was dedicated to social work. Condolences to her family and supporters at this time of grief.”
UP CM Yogi Adityanath also offered his condolences on Twitter, saying that the state had “lost a devoted public leader today.”
The council of ministers held a condolence meeting and observed a two-minute silence on the occasion. The cremation will take place in Kanpur later in the day.
According to an official statement issued by Prof. R.K. Dhiman, director SGPGIMS, the minister had comorbidities in form of diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and hypothyroidism.
"She had bilateral pneumonia at admission and was shifted to ICU on the day of admission itself because of high oxygen requirement. Later, she required non-invasive ventilation (NIV) with high oxygen requirements.”
"On evaluation, she had all the features of severe disease and she was given Inj. Remdesevir followed by Tocilizumab following which she had transient improvement in her clinical status for few days but again her condition started deteriorating with progressively increasing NIV and oxygen requirements," the statement said, according to IANS.
She was immediately transfused with convalescent plasma and steroid doses were hiked and put on the mechanical ventilator on Saturday.
However, her condition continued to deteriorate with hypotension and multi organ dysfunction and she succumbed to her illness.
IANS also reported that CM Adityanath cancelled his scheduled Ayodhya trip on Sunday, following the demise of the UP minister. The CM was also supposed to review the preparations and security arrangements being made for the 'bhoomi pujan' of the Ram temple which is going to be held on 5 August. He was also supposed to meet senior saints and seers during his visit.
(With inputs from IANS.)
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