Covid patient from Nilgiris passes away in ESI Hospital

Udhagamandalam: The Nilgiris reported its first Covid-19 death on Thursday, when a 67-year-old man from Green Fields area in Ooty succumbed to the virus attack at the ESI Hospital in Coimbatore, where he has been undergoing treatment. The state has, however, not recorded the death in its bulletin on Thursday.
The district also recorded eight fresh cases, taking the total number of Covid-19 cases to 115.
A source, meanwhile, said the elderly man had a travel history to Karur. After testing positive for the virus, he was admitted to the ESI Hospital in Coimbatore on June 22.
Dr Nirmala, dean, ESI Hospital, said, “He had comorbidities such as diabetes and hypertension. He was treated for nine days in the hospital. In the past three days, he was kept in the intensive care unit with oxygen support. The body was handed over to his family members as per the protocol.”
Among the new cases were six men and two women. While four of them secondary contacts of the public relations officer of the private needle manufacturing company at Yellanhalli near Ooty, three were secondary contacts of an earlier positive case with a travel history to Coimbatore.
The eighth case was a 67-year-old woman, whose husband had earlier tested positive for the virus. As the couple have a permanent residence in Chennai, where the woman’s husband is employed, the case, according to health officials, would be cross-notified to the Covid-19 count of the state capital.
Presently, there are 75 active cases in the district. Of them, 53 are being treated at the Ooty government headquarters hospital and the remaining at the ESI Hospital in Coimbatore.
While the district has so far tested more than 18,000 people for the contagion, the infection rate is just 0.63%. The Nilgiris is the second district in the state with low infection rate.