Cancer patient who tested positive for COVID-19 dies in Kerala; Toll rises to 5

A 53-year old woman cancer patient died on Sunday, days after she tested positive for COVID-19 on her return from Dubai, taking the toll due to the deadly virus in the state to five, a top official said.

The condition of the woman had been critical since arrival on May 20 and she was on ventilator support and the end came this afternoon at the Government Medical College Hospital here, health department sources said.

"A COVID-19 test was conducted on her and she had tested positive. So though the cause of death is malignant cancer, we will consider this as COVID death," State Health Secretary Dr Rajan Khobragade told PTI.

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The woman, hailing from Kalpetta in Wayanad district, along with her husband had reached Kerala from Dubai on May 20 for cancer treatment. She was first admitted to a private hospital and later shifted to the medical college hospital after testing positive for the coronavirus. With her death, the COVID-19 fatalities in the state has risen to five.

53 new cases, 47 of them returnees from abroad and other states, were detected, taking the aggregate tally of infections in the state so far to 847.

Totally 322 people are presently undergoing treatment for the virus, while 520 have been cured and discharged, Health Minister K K Shailaja said in a press release.

Over 95,000 people are under observation.

A 73-Year-old woman, who had returned to the state from Mumbai, had died after testing positive for the infection in Thrissur on Thursday night. Earlier, three people, including a four-month-old baby girl, had died of COVID-19 in the state, which has been witnessing a spike in new cases in recent days. Meanwhile, an 18-year-old boy who had returned to Kannur from Chennai and was under quarantine died at a hospital on Sunday.

He had been admitted to the hospital following fever and headache. His first test had returned negative, health department sources said. As a precautionary measure one more sample had been sent for testing, they said.

While 12 people each from Thiruvananthapuram and Kannur tested positive for the virus, Malappuram and Kasaragod had five cases each, Alappuzha, Ernakulam and Palakkad districts had four cases each, 3 from Kollam, 2 from Pathnamthitta and one from Kozhikode have tested positive on Sunday, besides a person from Tamil Nadu.

Eighteen people (3 from Oman, 11 from UAE, 3 from Saudi Arabia and one from Kuwait) who had come from abroad and 29 (Maharashtra-19, Gujarat-5, TN-3, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh- one each)from other states have tested positive.

Five people, including a health worker from Palakkad, have been infected due to contact,while five people, who were under treatment for the virus, have been cured and discharged.

Totally 93,404 people have come to the state.

While 7,847 have come by air, 1,621 through sea, 79,908 via checkposts and4,028by trains have come to the state.

At least 95,394 people are under observation, of which94,662 are at home and institutitonalquarantine while 732 are in hospitals.

At least 188 were admitted to the hospital today.

So far, samples of 53,873 people have been sent for testing, of which results of 52,355 are negative.

The total number of hotspotsin the state has gone up to 55 with 18 new areas being brought in today.

In Kannur, 67 people are undergoing treatment for the virus, the highest in the state, followedby Malappuram (49) and Palakkad (48).

On May8, Kerala had reported a solitary case and just 16 people were under treatmentandChief Minsiter Pinarayi Vijayan had declared that the state had flattened the COVID-19 curve.

However, with more people coming to the state from abroad and other states,the number of coronavirus cases has seen a sudden spike in the past few days.

While on Friday, 42 cases were reported, on Saturday it went up to 62 and on Sunday 53 cases have been reported taking the total to 157 in the past threedays