15-month-old baby dies of Covid-19 in Odisha

ROURKELA: After two days of mild relief, Sundargarh witnessed another big jump in Covid-19 cases with 52 persons testing positive on Tuesday. Besides, death of a 15-month-old baby, who had tested positive for the virus, was also reported on the day. Sundargarh Collector Nikhil Pawan Kalyan said of the 52 new cases, 37 are Covid Warriors, six have travel history and seven are direct contacts of previous positive cases. Two are local symptomatic cases from Sector-17 in Rourkela. The fresh cases include 10 from Rourkela.

Majority of the 37 Covid Warriors are policemen and healthcare givers belonging to Sundargarh sub-division. The Health and Family Welfare department informed that the Covid-19 positive baby of Sundargarh district died due to GM 1 Gangliosidosis which is an inherited disorder that progressively destroys nerve cells (neurons) in the brain and spinal cord. Rourkela ADM Aboli Sunil Naravane said the baby with serious medical condition was hospitalised in Bhubaneswar on May 28 and died there. Another Covid-19 positive patient of Sundargarh undergoing treatment in the State Capital also died last week.

These apart, an elderly coronavirus patient of Sector-16 in Rourkela had died on July 3. The 64-year-old male patient of Sector-16, suffering severe acute respiratory infection, fever and diarrhea, was admitted to Ispat General Hospital (IGH) on July 1. The next day, he tested positive for the virus and died on July 3. He was the first confirmed Covid-19 death of Sundargarh. So far, 121 persons of Sector-16, who came in contact with him, have tested positive. So far, Sundargarh has reported a total of 725 positive cases of which 269 are active and the rest have recovered.