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The woman was a native of Kalpetta in Wayanad but had been living Dubai for a while. According to a medical bulletin issued by the superintendent of the Medical College in Kozhikode, she returned to the state on May 20 by a special flight to Kochi. From there, she was directly shifted to a private hospital in Kozhikode where she was a patient.
The bulletin states, “She had breathing difficulty and was diagnosed with Type-1 respiratory failure, she had a background history of rectal cancer with brain meta status post radiotherapy and related issues post-surgery and chemo in 2017.”
It adds that a private hospital in Kozhikode diagnosed that she had COVID-19 and was shifted to the Medical College Kozhikode on May 21.
“At admission, she was disoriented and had in respiratory failure,” the bulletin says.
The bulletin adds that another COVID-19 test was conducted at the Medical College Hospital which also turned to be positive.
“Her condition deteriorated despite supportive intensive care treatment. On May 24, she started developing hypertension and succumbed to her illness,” the bulletin states.
This is the sixth COVID-19 death reported in Kerala which, as on Sunday, May 24, has 322 active cases.
The state’s first COVID-19 death was reported on March 28 in Ernakulam district. A 69-year old man who had returned from Dubai and was undergoing treatment at the Kalamassery Medical College but later died of the infection. The second death was reported in Thiruvananthapuram. A 68-year old man, a native of Pothecode, and who had comorbidities like kidney problem and other ailments like thyroid-related issues, succumbed to the infection. He was undergoing dialysis. On April 24, a four-month-old baby who tested positive for the virus died at the Kozhikode Medical College. The child was suffering from heart-related ailments from birth.
A resident of Mahe that comes under Puducherry and tested positive for COVID-19 died at the Pariyaram Medical College in Kannur on April 11, but Kerala has not officially recorded the death in the state’s count.
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On May 22, the state recorded its fifth death, as a 73-year-old woman who travelled from Mumbai to Kerala died of the disease.
53 new cases
The state on Sunday witnessed 53 new cases, including a health worker in Palakkad who contracted the infection.
Thiruvananthapuram and Kannur districts have 12 new cases each, five new cases were reported from Malappuram and Kasaragod; Alappuzha, Ernakulam and Palakkad have four new cases each, Kollam has three new cases, Pathanamthitta has two and Kozhikode has reported one new case. Of this, 18 people had returned from Gulf countries and 29 from other states. Five have contracted the disease through contact. The total number of active cases is 322. Five people have recovered on Sunday, taking the number of total recovered patients to 520.
93,404 people returned to state
So far a total of 93,404 people returned to the state. While 7,847 people returned to the state via flights, 1,621 have come back by ships, 79,908 people by road and 4,028 have travelled to Kerala by trains.
As many as 95,394 people are under surveillance in the state — while 94,662 people are in home or institutional quarantine, 732 have been admitted to hospitals. On Sunday, 188 people were admitted to hospitals.
1,726 samples have been tested in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of samples tested to 53,873, including augmented samples. Out of this, 52,355 samples returned negative. 8,027 samples have been tested as part of sentinel surveillance (random testing done among those who have more exposure to the virus) of which 7,588 have returned negative.
On Sunday, 18 more areas have been declared as hotspots.
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