A 63-year-old woman from Dum Dum died of Covid infection at the Infectious Diseases and Beleghata General Hospital a few days ago, senior officials in the state health department said on Thursday.
Doctors at the state-run health facility, which has been one of the state government’s nodal centres for Covid cases since the outbreak of the pandemic, said the patient was admitted on January 8 and died a few days back after testing positive for Covid.
“She had several comorbidities and died of multi-organ failure after testing positive for Covid,” a doctor said.
This is the second death because of Covid infection this year. Earlier, on January 8, a 76-year-old resident of Rajdanga Main Road in Kasba died of Covid at a private hospital.
The liver cancer patient had been admitted to the private hospital off EM Bypass on December 31 without any Covid-like symptoms, doctors had said.
The patient developed a fever and later tested positive for Covid. Within 48 hours of testing positive, he passed away.
Last year, the state had recorded its last Covid death on December 28. Since then, there has been a gradual rise in the number of positive cases.
Senior officials at the health facility in Beleghata said a few Covid-positive patients were admitted to the hospital and their condition was being monitored round-the-clock.
The country witnessed a single-day rise of 305 new cases of Covid on Thursday while the number of active cases of the infection declined to 2,439, the health ministry said.
Three deaths — one each in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Gujarat — were reported in the last 24 hours, according to the ministry’s data.
On Monday, three Covid-related deaths were reported in Maharashtra — one each in Navi Mumbai, Pune Municipal Corporation and Sangli.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had said on January 11 that there was nothing to be scared about with the recent recurrence of Covid infection. She had however asked those with comorbidities and compromised immunity to exercise caution.
“We are keeping a close watch on the Covid cases across the state,” said a senior official of the health department on Thursday.
“Daily updates are being analysed. As and when we require to convey something in particular, the details will be uploaded on our department’s portal,” the official said.