Five healthcare workers at the hospital — three nursing orderlies, a doctor and a housing staff — have also tested positive. (File) 

A 52-year-old man from Haryana’s Sonepat is the seventh person in Delhi to die from COVID-19. He had been admitted to Maharaja Agrasen Hospital in Punjabi Bagh and died on April 4.

On Sunday, 58 new cases were reported in the city, pushing the total number of confirmed cases to 503.

Of the new cases, 19 are connected to Nizammudin Markaz and 25 are under investigation. Meanwhile, three more people — including the mohalla clinic doctor from Maujpur who had tested positive — have recovered. A total of 18 people have been discharged so far.

Dr Deepak Singhla, medical director, Maharaja Agrasen Hospital, said: “The patient was admitted to the ICU on March 13 with several critical illnesses; he did not show any symptoms of COVID-19. His samples were sent for testing after another patient admitted in the ICU ward, who had left the hospital, tested positive. We had sent samples of all nine patients admitted in the ICU and only one of them (the deceased) tested positive for the disease.”

Five healthcare workers at the hospital — three nursing orderlies, a doctor and a housing staff — have also tested positive.

The first patient, a resident of Haryana’s Rohtak, was admitted to the ICU unit between March 10 and March 30. He then left the hospital against medical advice. His report came out positive on March 30 and, immediately, 81 of the hospital’s staff were quarantined.

“This is a preventive measure which every hospital takes if a patient from the hospital tests positive for the disease. Staff were immediately quarantined. Since the index patient was admitted to the ICU, we had to send samples of the other ICU patients for testing as well… We are now tracing the contact history and a list of 60-70 healthcare workers has been prepared so far,” added Dr Singhla.

In Delhi, at least 23 healthcare workers, including doctors, nurses and other staff members, have tested positive for the disease.

At the Delhi State Cancer Institute (DSCI), eight healthcare workers have tested positive after a resident doctor from the department of preventive oncology contracted the virus.

“Two doctors and six nurses have tested positive from our institute. We have sent samples of over 50 healthcare workers for testing and their reports are awaited,” said Dr B L Sherwal, medical director of DSCI.