India Records Its Second Death from Coronavirus, as Death Toll Crosses 5000 Globally

A 68-year-old woman has died of coronavirus in Delhi, recorded as the second death linked to the global pandemic in the country. The woman was the 6th case of coronavirus that has been reported from the capital, had other conditions too such as high blood pressure and diabetes.

The woman comes in contact with the virus from her son, who had contracted the virus while he was traveling in Switzerland and Italy last month. After his return, he visited Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in Delhi with minor fever and cough on March 7th.  Initially, he had not shown any symptoms of the infection.

Following the protocol, the whole family was screened and it was found that both mother and son have the symptoms of COVID-19 and thus both were admitted.

On March 9, the condition of the woman worsened with the development of pneumonia and therefore she was shifted to the intensive care unit or ICU. On the same day, she tested positive for coronavirus.

The union health ministry said, “Since 9th March 2020, she was having respiratory fluctuations and was provided ventilator support. However, due to comorbid conditions, she died on 13th March.”

Her death comes a day after the first coronavirus death in India recorded on Thursday when a 76-year-old man died in Karnataka and the number of cases in India rose to 85.

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry has said the situation in India so far is ‘not a health emergency’. Moreover, 3 patients from Kerala were released last month after they successfully covered the quarantine period and recovered. Seven more people have been cured of the virus and will be discharged soon, government officials informed. 

During a news conference, Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Health said that nearly 4,000 people who had come in contact with the infected people have been identified and were being tracked, on the other hand, 42,000 people across the country are under community surveillance.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization has declared that Europe has now become the epicenter for the global coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 5,000 people, with cases around the world has passed 1.34 lakh.

More than 3,176 people have died in mainland China, followed by Italy with 1,016 deaths and Iran with 514 deaths, the three countries have recorded the highest number of deaths in the world. Since COVID-19 was first detected in the month of December last year, it has infected more than 134,300 people in 121 countries and territories.