The State recorded its second COVID-19 victim on Tuesday with the death of a 68-year-old man, who had been in an ICU at the Thiruvananthapuram Government Medical College Hospital (MCH) with severe co-morbidities for the past one week.
An official statement issued by the MCH said the deceased, a native of Vavarambalam at Pothencode here, had been admitted to the ICU on March 23 and his condition had worsened as he had severe co-morbidities, including high blood pressure and thyroid-related issues.
He had been on ventilator for the past five days after his kidneys failed, requiring him to be on dialysis.
His first test result on March 26 had come as negative and it was the second sample result on March 29 which showed him to be positive for COVID-19. The death occurred at 2.30 a.m. on Tuesday.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, briefing the media, said the case was being studied closely to ascertain whether it could be a case of community spread as the Health Department had not been able to pinpoint the source of infection.
Plan for Kasaragod
He said that a special action plan was being planned in Kasaragod where the maximum COVID-19 cases had been reported and where the potential for transmission seemed to be high. Under the plan, a panchayat-level data would be collected of those who have any respiratory disease as well as their contacts and samples would be sent for testing.
Seven test positive
On Tuesday, seven people newly tested positive in the State.
Mr. Vijayan said all except one of these cases were primary contacts. Two cases each were from Thiruvananthapuram and Kasaragod, while one case each was from Kollam, Kannur and Thrissur.
Kerala has so far reported 241 COVID-19 cases, out of which 215 are currently under treatment. There have been two deaths, while 24 recovered from the illness and have since been discharged. Over 1.63 lakh people are currently in the surveillance network, including 658 who have been isolated in hospitals.
Kasaragod has the maximum number of people isolated in hospitals at 163, Kannur has 108 and Malappuram 102.
He said the Aster group had offered a COVID-19 package deal wherein the government could utilise 750 of its hospital beds in various districts. Aster DM group has also offered the service of its doctors in Aster hospitals to treat people who are isolated in buildings around the hospitals in various districts.
This, the Chief Minister, said was something the Health Department was already contemplating because it would keep suspected COVID-19 patients from mixing with others in regular hospitals and amplifying the transmission of infection.
