Mumbai jail reports first Covid-19 death

After 158 inmates and 26 staffers tested positive, Arthur Road Mumbai Central Jail reported its first victim of Covid-19. Harun Bashir Shaikh, an undertrial prisoner

After 158 inmates and 26 staffers tested positive, Arthur Road Mumbai Central Jail reported its first victim of Covid-19. Harun Bashir Shaikh, an undertrial prisoner who was in Arthur Road jail, was admitted to Sir JJ Hospital in the last week of April for treatment of diabetes. He succumbed to Covid-19 on May 9. Shaikh is the first inmate to die in Mumbai.

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According to an affidavit submitted by jail authorities to Bombay HC on Tuesday, three inm-ates in the state have died of Covid-19 so far. Shaikh was asym-ptomatic and tested positive for Covid-19 after he passed away.

A senior jail officer, requesting anonymity, said, “Shaikh was suffering from diabetes and in the last week of April, he was admitted to Sir JJ Hospital. After treatment, he was not allowed to enter Arthur Road prison again and was send to Taloja Central Jail in Navi Mumbai.”

Shaikh was quarantined in Taloja jail but his health deteriorated within a day and he was taken back to Sir JJ Hospital, where he passed away on May 9.

“After his death, a Covid-19 test confirmed he was positive. He was asymptomatic,” said the jail official.