The Andhra Pradesh government has confirmed the state’s first death due to the Novel Coronavirus Friday. The Health, Medical and Family Welfare department revealed that patient, Sk Subhani, a 55-year-old resident of Vijayawada, breathed his last in the Government General Hospital on March 30.
The government has traced the deceased’s connection with the Tablighi Jamaat Markaz in Delhi’s Nizammudin area. Subhani’s son had attended the Banglewali Markaz congregation in Delhi and returned to Vijayawada on March 17. Later he tested positive for Coronavirus. The doctors have established that the deceased caught the virus from his son.
Subhani had succumbed to the infection on March 30 but the Andhra Pradesh government declared its state’s first death only on April 3. The delay in reporting the death was because results of the deceased’s blood sample were available only today (April 3), State Nodal Officer for COVID-19 Arja Srikanth said in a report.
Subhani died of the infection an hour after he was brought to the hospital on March 30 with serious ailments, even before the doctors could collect samples for coronavirus test. Hence, there was delay in confirmimg the cause of his death.
The state authorities have identified 30 persons who had come in contact with the father and son duo. All have now been quarantined. Moreover, the details pertaining to the travel history of the primary patient, including flight details have been forwarded to the central government for them to detect other contact people.
As of today, Andhra Pradesh has recorded a total of 134 Coronavirus cases with 1 death.
Crossing the 2200-mark in India, Tablighi Jamaat’s Markaz event in Delhi’s Nizamuddin has contributed majorly to this increase. The event was held between March 13 and March 15 and saw a footfall of several thousand members. Multiple states have reported their first Covid-19 cases which are linked to the Tablighi Jamaat.
In what could be termed as a massive effort undertaken by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in coordination with states, until now, as many as 9000 Tablighi Jamaat workers and their primary contacts have been traced and placed in quarantine across the country in view of the coronavirus infection. Out of these 9000 people, 1306 are foreign nationals and the rest are Indians.