78-year-old Italian woman dies of Covid-19 in Gurugram

The woman, part of a group of 14 tourists from Italy who 14 tested positive for the virus in one of the first set of cases reported in India last month, was being treated at Medanta - The Medicity.

A 78-year-old Italian woman, who tested positive for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) on March 3 in Delhi and was on a ventilator for almost a month, died on Thursday, state health department officials said.

Thirteen of the 14 Italian tourists recovered from the disease and were discharged last month. (Photo: Parveen Kumar/ Hindustan Times)

The woman, part of a group of 14 tourists from Italy who 14 tested positive for the virus in one of the first set of cases reported in India last month, was being treated at Medanta - The Medicity. The other 13 members of the group recovered from the disease and were released between March 21 and March 30.

Doctors at Medanta said the woman was the worst affected in her group. The 14 Italian tourists were moved to Medanta from an Indo-Tibetan Border Police’s (ITBP) Chhawla camp in Delhi on March 4.

Dr Yatin Mehta, an intensive care expert at Medanta, who handled the treatment of the group, said the woman was struggling with illness despite showing some signs of improvement. “She was on the ventilator for almost a month. Her health condition improved in between while undergoing treatment, but her lungs did not show any major improvement. She struggled with her health condition as she had chronic kidney diseases,” he said.

The woman died around noon on Thursday. Mehta said her family has been informed. “It is up to them to decide what is to be done next. We will get more clarity on Friday,” he said.

Another Covid-19 patient, a 65-year-old man from Fazilpur village in Jharsa, near Sector 39, died on Tuesday. He was undergoing treatment at Artemis Hospital and died of a heart attack due to co-morbidity issues, officials said.

District health department officials said the Jharsa resident had tested positive on April 4.

Dr Jaswant Singh Punia, Gurugram’s chief medical officer, said: “he patient was coronavirus positive but he had comorbidity issues that led to death. He was highly diabetic and had leg wounds, for which he was already undergoing treatment in a private hospital.”

It was not clear how the man was infected.

VS Kundu, the monitoring incharge for all Covid-19 cases in the district, confirmed the two deaths.

“There are two deaths in the district. The 65-year-old man died on Tuesday. He was a Covid-19 positive patient but the exact reason for his death is a heart attack. He had other complications and was under observation. The post-mortem examination report clearly shows that his Covid-19 symptoms were not so intense that they could have led to death. In another case, an Italian tourist who was undergoing treatment in a private hospital for Covid-19 has also been declared dead.”

A statement issued by the district administration said that the Fazilpur patient admitted to Artemis hospital died due to uncontrolled diabetes and heart attack, and that his death should not be linked to Covid-19.