A scanning electron microscope image showing SARS-CoV-2 (orange), the virus that causes COVID-19, isolated from a patient in the US, emerging from the surface of cells cultured in the lab. Photo and caption: NIAID-RML.
Bengaluru: A 76-year-old man who died two days ago in Karnataka while being treated for a suspected coronavirus infection has become India’s first COVID-19 fatality. His samples, obtained earlier and tested at the Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute, confirmed the infection, the state government said on Thursday.
Karnataka health minister B. Sriramulu said in a tweet that officials were undertaking the necessary contact-tracing, isolation and other measures as per protocol.
The 76 year old man from Kalburgi who passed away & was a suspected #COVID19 patient has been Confirmed for #COVID19. The necessary contact tracing, isolation & other measures as per protocol are being carried out.
— B Sriramulu (@sriramulubjp) March 12, 2020
A senior Union health ministry official said in New Delhi that the man, who had visited Saudi Arabia from January 29 to February 29, “also tested positive for COVD-19”. The official added that the man had reached Hyderabad on February 29 and went from there to Kalaburagi in Karnataka.
B.G. Prakash Kumar, the state joint director for communicable diseases, said all protocols were being followed for disposal of the body. “The body is disinfected completely and disposed as per Government of India guidelines,” he said.
He also said the Telangana government has also been informed as the man had visited a private hospital in Hyderabad earlier.
While announcing the death of the man on Tuesday, Karnataka state authorities had said the exact cause of his death was yet to be ascertained.
According to the Union health ministry official, “While he was asymptomatic on his return [from Saudi Arabia], he developed symptoms of fever and cough on March 6. One private doctor visited him at his home and treated him there.”
“On March 9, the symptoms got aggravated and he was shifted to a private hospital in Kalaburagi. In this private hospital, he was provisionally diagnosed with mid-zone viral pneumonia and suspected COVID-19,” the official said.
“His sample was collected on March 9. … Without waiting for the test results, the attendees insisted and the patient was discharged against medical advice, and the attendees took him to a private hospital in Hyderabad,” the official said.
The patient was admitted to a private hospital in Hyderabad and treated. He died on Tuesday when he was being brought back to the Gulbarga Institute of Medical Sciences in Kalaburagi.
Karnataka has so far reported five confirmed COVID-19 cases. A 26-year-old man who returned from Greece tested positive for the coronavirus, making him the fifth case, the health department said on Thursday.
The number of patients in India has now soared to 74.