India's first coronavirus death: Health ministry provides case details, highlights co-morbidities

New Delhi: As the health ministry confirmed the first casualty to coronavirus in India, it recently also provided the case details of the patient, highlighting his co-morbidities

Death of a 76-year-old male from Karnataka is confirmed to be caused due to co-morbidity and has also tested positive for COVID-19. The details of the case are as follows:

He visited Saudi Arabia from 29th January 2020 to 29th February 2020.

He was a known case of Hypertension and Asthma. He reached back to Hyderabad on 29th February and went to Kalaburgi.

While he was asymptomatic on his return, he developed symptoms of fever and cough on 06th March 2020. One private doctor visited him at his home and treated him there.

On 9th March 2020, the symptoms got aggravated and he was shifted to a private hospital in Kalaburgi. In this private hospital he was provisionally diagnosed as "mid zone Viral Pneumonia" and "suspected COVID-19".

The sample was collected on 09.03.2020 by Viral Research Diagnostic Laboratory, GIMS, Kalaburgi to rule out COVID-19 and sample was dispatched to VRDL, BMC&RI, Bengaluru. Without waiting for the test results, the attendees insisted and the patient was discharged against medical advice (DAMA) and the attendees took him to a private hospital in Hyderabad.

As per instructions of Deputy Commissioner, Kalaburgi District, the DHO met the attendees to convince them to admit the patient to the Gulbarga Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS), Kalaburgi in the isolation ward set up at the Institute. But the attendees refused to listen to him. They transferred him to Hyderabad without his knowledge.

The patient was admitted in a private hospital in Hyderabad and treated. Later he was discharged and while he was being brought back he died on the way to the GIMS, Kalaburgi on 10.03.2020.

All the precautionary measures as per protocol such as contact tracing, screening and home quarantine of the contacts have been initiated by the District Health and Family Welfare Department, Karnataka and being monitored continuously.