Jharkhand reports its first COVID-19 death in current wave

    Ranchi, Jun 10 (PTI) Jharkhand reported its first COVID-19 death as a 44-year-old man, who had tested positive for the infection, died in the state capital Ranchi, health officials said on Tuesday.
    He was undergoing treatment at the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) here.
    "The patient was suffering from multiple diseases and also tested positive for COVID-19," Ranchi civil surgeon Prabhat Kumar told PTI.
    Another health official said that the man was suffering from aspirational pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, septic shock, hypertension and hypothyroidism.
    According to a health department bulletin, Jharkhand currently has six active COVID-19 cases. As many as nine patients have recovered from the disease since January 1 this year.
    Meanwhile, RIMS, in a statement, said the patient was referred to the hospital from the Central Institute of Psychiatry (CIP), Ranchi, on June 2.
    The patient suffered a cardiac arrest due to food getting stuck in the throat, leading to breathing difficulties, it said.
    "He was brought to RIMS for ventilator support, where tests confirmed aspiration pneumonia. The patient was placed on a ventilator in the trauma centre due to acute respiratory distress syndrome," it stated.
    It further added that the patient had several pre-existing medical conditions.
    He tested positive for COVID-19 on June 5 and he died on Monday.
    "According to RIMS doctors, the patient's death was caused by refractory septic shock, primarily due to circulatory failure and not due to respiratory failure, which is typically the cause of death in COVID-19 patients," it added.
    The state's first COVID-19 case of the current wave was reported on May 24 after a person, who had returned from Mumbai, tested positive for the infection.
    The Ranchi administration also issued an advisory last month as a precaution against rising cases of COVID-19.
    The administration urged people to wear masks if they have symptoms like runny nose, sore throat, headache or fever. It also asked people to wear masks in crowded places.
    People over 60 years of age, or those with heart diseases, diabetes, weakened immune systems, tuberculosis, chronic lung, kidney, or liver diseases, obesity, or who are unvaccinated, should take extra precautions, it stated.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)