Kerala reported one more COVID-19 death on Friday. With this, the death toll due to coronavirus in the state has jumped to nine.
On Friday, 68-year-old Thiruvalla native, Joshy, died in the Kottayam Medical College hospital at 2 am. According to reports, he had been working in the UAE and had returned from Sharjah on May 11. Doctors stated that he was in a critical condition as he suffered from multiple co-morbidities, including diabetes and obesity.
On returning from the Gulf, he was put up in an institutional quarantine centre in Pathanamthitta and reportedly did not exhibit any COVID-19 symptoms. However, his swab sample tested positive for the virus on May 16, following which he was shifted to the Pathanamthitta district hospital.
Joshy was later shifted to the Kottayam Medical College after his kidneys and heart failed, officials in the hospital told The Hindu. He was put on a ventilator and was monitored by a seven-member medical board which took instructions from state-level experts.
"He is a patient from Pathanamthitta and was shifted to Kottayam as he needed Medical College Hospital facilities. He was admitted to Kottayam MCH two days ago after suffering health complications," Dr Jacob Varghese, Kottayam DMO told TNM.
His funeral will be held on Friday, after following burial protocols detailed by the World Health Organisation.
With the latest casualty, the official death toll stands at eight, as the state government has not included the Mahe native who died in Kannur.
CM Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday added that one more death was reported in the state — that of an infected Telangana native Anjaiah — who had mistakenly boarded a train from Rajasthan on May 22 and reached Thiruvananthapuram.
On Wednesday, the state recorded the largest single-day spike in cases — 84. However, the number of cases transmitted through contacts remains low. Five of Thursday’s reported cases contracted COVID-19 from contacts in Kerala, while 31 of the cases were imported from abroad. 48 patients had returned from other Indian states.
Six more hotspots have been added in Kerala taking the total count to 82.