Kerala has recorded its first COVID-19 death. A 69-year old man who was admitted to the Kalamassery Medical College died on Saturday morning. The man, a resident of Chullikal in Kochi, had returned from Dubai on March 16. His wife and driver too had tested positive and are being treated in the same hospital. Till Friday evening, Kerala had reported 176 cases, including the 12 people who have recovered.

The Kerala government has said that the deceased was a high risk patient who had a heart condition.

The man had showed mild symptoms upon his arrival, and was asked to be in home quarantine. On March 22, when his health deteriorated, he was shifted to the hospital. A few day ago, the man who reportedly also has a heart condition, was placed on a ventilator. On Saturday morning, he passed away.

He had showed symptoms of severe pneumonia and was admitted at the Ernakulam COVID treatment centre on March 22, said a note by Dr Fathahudeen, nodal officer of Ernakulam Medical College. He was under treatment for heart disease and high blood pressure. He had earlier gone through a bypass surgery.  The man was under ventillator support.

His body has been handed over to the relatives.

India has recorded 20 COVID-19 deaths. This includes one each in Delhi, Himacha, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, West Bengal and Jammu Kashmir, three each in Gujarat and Karnataka, two in Madhya Pradesh and five in Maharashtra.

Numbers in Kerala

On Wednesday, 112 people were admitted for observation in various hospitals in Kerala. There are now 616 people under observation in hospitals and 1,09,683 in home quarantine. 

Since the most number of positive cases are in Kasargod, the existing restrictions should continue even more strictly, the CM said. 

By Friday, 1,10,299 people in the state have been placed under observation. Out of these, 616 people have been admitted to various hospitals in the state, while the rest are placed under home quarantine. A total of 5679 samples have been sent for testing. Out of these, 4,448 of them returned negative for SARS-C0V-2, the Chief Minister confirmed.