Odisha government ‘forgets’ to notify COVID-19 fatality

BHUBANESWAR: Odisha government seems to have forgotten to notify the death of a man from Nayagarh district who had succumbed to the disease a fortnight back.

Even as the death audit conducted by a team of three officials cleared that the cause of death of the 40-year-old man was due to Covid-19, Pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome with septic shock, the state dashboard on  coronavirus does not have any mention about it.

The man from Jadumani Nagar had died while undergoing treatment at SUM Covid Hospital at 3.45 am on July 1.

He was asymptomatic and shifted to the hospital on June 24 after being tested positive. 

The patient had developed shortness of breath with decrease in oxygen saturation and was subsequently admitted to ICU on June 27.

He was diagnosed to have suffered septic shock due to the virus.

Though he was supplemented with oxygen by non-invasive ventilation followed by intubation, the man could not be saved. He was also suffering from type-II diabetes mellitus.

However, the victim had no travel history or contact with any positive case. Incidentally, Odisha is the only state which has segregated deaths in two categories - Covid and other than Covid.

People with other underlying diseases are listed under the second category despite being tested positive for Covid-19.