Mumbai: A day after the death of a 68-year-old Filipino man who had tested negative for coronavirus after treatment, a 65-year-old man diagnosed with COVID-19 died on Monday night at Kasturba Hospital. With this, the death toll of patients who have tested positive for coronavirus in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) has gone up to three.
With 10 fresh cases reported, the number of cases in the state rose to 107 on Tuesday, even as the public health department of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said 12 patients undergoing treatment for coronavirus at Kasturba Hospital had been cured, of who eight were being discharged. Of the 10 new cases, five were in Mumbai, three in Pune, and one each in Satara and Ahmednagar.
Mumbai has reported 41 cases till date, while there are 18 in Pune, 12 in Pimpri-Chinchwad, 5 each in Navi Mumbai and Kalyan-Dombivali, 4 each in Yavatmal, Sangli, and Nagpur, 3 each in Thane and Ahmednagar, two in Satara, and one each in Panvel, Ulhasnagar, Aurangabad, Ratnagiri, Pune district and Vasai-Virar. A total of 418 people with history of foreign travel are in quarantine in Mumbai.
According to a statement released by the BMC, the patient who died on Monday night had returned from the UAE on March 15 and went to Ahmedabad the same day. He returned to Mumbai on March 20. Shortly thereafter, he developed symptoms of fever and breathlessness. He also had a medical history of high blood pressure and hypertension.
On Monday morning, he was admitted to Kasturba Hospital and his swab sample tested positive for the virus. Because of critical health issues, he succumbed to the infection the same night.
Speaking about those who had been cured at Kasturba Hospital, a health official said, “A couple from Pune, who were the first positive coronavirus cases in Maharashtra, tested negative for the disease after the incubation period of 14 days.”
State public health minister Rajesh Tope also said on Tuesday that around 15 coronavirus patients in the state have responded well to treatment and they could be discharged soon, but the final decision would be taken by the doctors.
“The good news is that persons affected with Corona are recovering from this disease. Fifteen such patients who were earlier found positive, are now found negative after their two swab tests within 24 hours. They include 12 patients from Mumbai, two from Pune and one from Aurangabad who tested negative and they are now being discharged from hospital,” said Tope. He added that only two coronavirus patients in the state were in ICU.
“The state government has made provisions for N-95 masks and sufficient beds. It has also added 1000 new hospitals under the Mahatma Phule Health scheme. All Corona patients will be treated under this scheme,” Tope said.
He also appealed to people not to crowd at grocery shops. Reacting to news report that villagers were shunning persons returning home from cities like Mumbai, Nagpur and Pune, he also appealed to villagers not to behave in such a manner.
“They are your own people. They are not returning from coronavirus affected countries. If they are returning from metro cities, it does not mean that they are 100 per cent coronavirus affected persons. Please show humanity in welcoming them,’’ he appealed.
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, in an address to the state, also urged people not to resort to shunning people who come from abroad and asked people to cooperate with the government by remaining indoors.
The government also issued ordered to doctors to open clinics and medical shops across the state as Out Patient Departments in some hospitals have been shut down.
Meanwhile, the BMC’s death review committee is yet to confirm whether the death of the Philippines citizen at a private hospital in Mumbai on Sunday night was due to coronavirus or owing to his comorbidities.
