Bikaner's 60-year-old is Rajasthan's 4th casualty

Syed Intishab Ali | TNN | Updated: Apr 5, 2020, 14:24 IST

A deserted road in the Walled City area during lockdown on Saturday

JAIPUR: A 60-year-old woman, who tested positive for Covid-19, died while undergoing treatment at PBM Hospital in Bikaner on Saturday.
Initially, the PBM Hospital doctors treated her as a suspected swine flu case as she had no history of travel to foreign countries or of meeting any infected person. They took her swab samples for swine flu test. But after she tested negative, doctors suspected her as a Covid-19 case. By then it was too late.
"We took her samples and sent it to laboratory on Friday. She tested positive for Covid-19. But before the report came, the patient died," said an SP Medical College administration official.
This was state's fourth Covid-19 death. The first two deaths were reported in Bhilwara while the third was reported from SMS Hospital in Jaipur where a person hailing from Alwar died.
The 60-year-old woman was admitted to PBM Hospital four days ago with complaints of breathlessness and stomachache. The doctors first admitted her to a general ward but when her condition deteriorated, she was shifted to ICU. The doctors put her on ventilator support to help her in breathing. However, the SP Medical College, with which PBM hospital is attached, claimed that as of now no comorbidity has been reported.
The cause of concern for doctors now is that the woman had no travel history and from whom she contracted the virus is yet to be ascertained. The officials said she belonged to that area of Bikaner from where two Tablighi Jamaat people were found infected. However, the health department is yet to find the link between them.
"She had no travel history and she becomes the fourth Covid-19 deceased of the state," said Rohit Kumar Singh, additional chief secretary (health). She is the third Covid-19 case in Bikaner. The other two belong to Tablighi Jamaat.