Coronavirus: 68-Year-Old Woman Dies Of COVID-19 In Delhi, Second Casualty In Country

A 68-year-old woman, who tested positive for novel coronavirus infection, has died in Delhi's RML Hospital, said Health Ministry and Delhi government officials on Friday, making it the second COVID-19-related death case in India. The resident is reportedly from West Delhi's Janakpuri. The death was caused due to co-morbidity (diabetes and hypertension), it said, adding she had tested positive for COVID-19. The woman was admitted in Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, officials said.

A 76-year-old man from Karnataka was the first casualty of coronavirus in India. His sample, which had been taken before he died, confirmed that he was suffering from the deadly virus, Karnataka health minister B Sriramalu said.

The man who was a resident of Kalburagi in Karnataka had recently returned from Saudi Arabia. The officials also said that the man was suffering many other diseases including hypertension, diabetes and asthma. So far, a total of 81 positive cases of Coronavirus have been traced in the country, according to the data provided by the Union health ministry.

Earlier in the day, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the novel coronavirus outbreak was at the "containment stage", adding that the Centre and his government had been working together to deal with it.

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Kejriwal urged the people to not hoard sanitisers and masks, which he said was not needed for those who are healthy as COVID-19 was not an airborne disease.

Addressing a one-day session of the Delhi Assembly, the chief minister said his government had been taking every step to check the spread of the pandemic.

"We have closed schools, cinema halls, universities... to contain the spread of coronavirus," Kejriwal told the Assembly. "We have been taking all precautionary measures and people have been supporting us."

"It is good that coronavirus is at the containment stage. The Centre and the Delhi government are working together to deal with it," he said.

Kejriwal underscored that precautionary measures, especially regular washing of hands, could help deal with the deadly disease. "If you wear a mask, you may touch it and there's a fear of getting infected," he said. "Only infected people should wear masks."

The chief minister explained that on a hard surface, the virus stays for about 48 hours and it lasts for about seven-eight days on a soft tissue surface.

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Addressing reporters, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Health Lav Aggarwal said besides three patients from Kerala who were discharged last month following recovery, seven more coronavirus infected patients have been cured and they will be discharged soon. "The remaining 71 are clinically stable," he said.

The 81 figure also include 16 Italians and one Canadian. On invocation of Epidemic Act by the Centre, Aggarwal said,"It is not a health emergency."

With the World Health Organisation declaring novel coronavirus a pandemic, Aggarwal said that 4,000 people who had come in contact with the 81 positive cases have been identified through contract tracing and were being tracked while 42,000 people across the country are under community surveillance.

He said all essential facilities like community surveillance, quarantine, isolation wards, adequate PPEs, trained manpower, rapid response teams are being strengthened further in all states and UTs.

He informed so far, 1,031 persons including 48 nationals have been evacuated from countries such as Maldives, Myanmar, Bangladesh, China, US, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, Nepal, South Africa and Peru.

"Till date, 890 evacuees from COVID-19 affected countries, have been discharged after 14 days isolation and having tested negative as per protocols," Aggarwal said.

A special flight operated by Indian Air Force brought back 58 passengers from Iran on March 10. India also facilitated Mahan Air flight to bring back people from Iran, and Friday one flight with 44 passengers has landed in Mumbai.

These passengers are being kept in quarantine at the Indian Navy facility in Mumbai. Another Mahan Air flight is expected to land on Saturday in Delhi, Ministry of Civil Aviation Joint Secretary Rubina Ali said.

(With PTI inputs)