India has reported its first coronavirus death when the test result of a 76-year-old man, who died recently in Kalaburagi district of the southern state of Karnataka, confirmed that he was positive for the virus, the state government said last night.
Karnataka Health Minister B Sriramulu in a tweet said that "the 76 year old man from Kalbauragi who passed away & was a suspected #COVID19 patient has been confirmed for #COVID19."
He said necessary contact tracing, isolation and other measures as per protocol were being taken, reports our New Delhi correspondent.
The victim, who returned from Saudi Arabia on February 29, died on Tuesday and the result of the test of his swab samples taken earlier confirmed he was coronavirus positive, Sriramulu said.
The victim was screened on arrival at the Hyderabad airport but apparently showed no symptoms at that time.
On March 5 he went to a private hospital in Kalburgi and was admitted the following day with asthma and hypertension. Hospital staff tested him for novel coronavirus.
Three days later he was shifted to a hospital in Hyderabad. His family later checked him out of hospital on Tuesday and were taking him home when he died at around 10:30pm, officials said.
India has so far reported 74 coronavirus positive cases.
