Coronavirus: Nirmal Singh, Padma Shri And Former 'Hazuri Raagi' At Golden Temple, Dies In Amritsar

Nirmal Singh Khalsa, a Padma Shri awardee and former 'Hazuri Raagi' at the Golden Temple, died early Thursday morning of the novel coronavirus. This is the fifth death related to COVID-19 in the state, a health official said. He was undergoing treatment for coronavirus at the Guru Nanak Dev Hospital. (Coronavirus Oubreak Live Updates)

According to officials, his condition started deteriorating on Wednesday evening and he was put on ventilator support. He died at 4:30 AM on Thursday. The 62-year-old 'Gurbani' exponent had recently returned from abroad and tested positive for coronavirus on Wednesday, the official said.

The samples of his two daughters, son, wife, a driver and six others, who went along with him to Chandigarh, would be taken for testing for the virus, officials said.

According to officials, Singh had held a large 'sammelan' (religious gathering) in Delhi and some other places after he returned from abroad. He had also performed a 'kirtan' at a house in Chandigarh on March 19 along with his family members and other relatives. The Chandigarh administration is taking the necessary steps in this regard.

Singh was awarded the Padma Shri in 2009. He had the knowledge of all the 31 'Raags' in the Gurbani of the Guru Granth Sahib, the holy book of Sikhism.

Punjab has so far reported total 46 COVID-19 cases -- 19 from Nawanshahr, 10 from Mohali, six from Hoshiarpur, five from Jalandhar, three from Ludhiana, two from Amritsar and one from Patiala. Of the 46 cases, one patient was discharged from hospital after his second test results came to be negative.

(With PTI Inputs)