Coronavirus: 4 more deaths in Meghalaya, toll rises to 24

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaSeptember 11, 2020

Four persons, who tested positive for COVID-19, succumbed to the viral infection, taking the state’s coronavirus fatalities to 24, even as 151 fresh cases were detected on Friday, taking the count to 1,534.

21-year-old Sambha Shylla from Iongnoh in West Jaintia Hills district, Khim Singh (46) from Happy Valley and Ramnela Durga Prasad Rao (45) from Andhra Pradesh died on Thursday night while Saraswati Kuri (45) from Mawbah, Shillong passed away today morning, Director of Health Services (MI), Dr Aman War told reporters.

Dr War said Shylla was admitted at the North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health & Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS) hospital on September 10, at 4.30 am with diagnosis of Pyogenic Meningitis and acute respiratory distress.

Shylla was previously admitted at Nazareth hospital from August 27 till September 5, after which he was shifted to Supercare hospital before he was referred to NEIGRIHMS.

“On admission at NEIGRIHMS, he was tested positive with CBNAAT and he was managed accordingly in the COVID-ICU but he passed away at 10.05 pm on September 10. The cause of death was due to type-I respiratory failure with COVID pneumonia sepsis and meningitis,” he said.

Dr War said Singh was admitted at NEIGRIHMS hospital on August 22, with a history of fever, cough and respiratory distress.

On admission, his sample was tested and found to be positive. He was managed in the hospital but because of liver damage which has also affected his kidney function, he was shifted to COVID-ICU and treatment started accordingly.

Singh however passed away at 10 pm on Thursday due to respiratory failure septic shock and COVID pneumonia sepsis and type-II diabetes mellitus with hypertension, he said.

Another patient, Rao was admitted at the Shillong civil hospital on September 4, and later found to be positive for COVID-19 with rapid antigen test. The patient was with diabetes mellitus and hypertension. He passed away at 10.40 pm on Thursday and the cause of death was due to COVID pneumonia with severe acute respiratory syndrome.

Kuri was also admitted to the Nazareth hospital on September 4, with fever, cough and breathing problems. She had a case of hypertension and hypothyroidism. “She was managed in the hospital as a COVID patient with all complications as mentioned but she passed away at 4.30 am today due to cardiac arrest and COVID-19 complications,” he said.

The senior medical officer said that of the 151 new cases, 97 were detected from East Khasi Hills district, 27 from East Jaintia Hills district, 17 from West Garo Hills district, 3 from North Garo Hills district, 2 from West Khasi Hills district and 1 from West Jaintia Hills district.

Giving the break up of the new cases, he said 49 high risk cases, 2 health workers, 41 armed forces/paramilitary forces (AF/PF), 4 severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) cases and 1 influenza like illness (ILI) case are from East Khasi Hills.

He said the cases detected in East Jaintia Hills are all from random sampling at Star Cement in Lumshnong, 7 AF/PF, 5 high risk cases, 2 Phulbari cluster, 2 returnees, 1 Tikrikilla cluster are from West Garo Hills, 1 health worker, 1 high risk in West Khasi Hills, all are high cases in North Garo Hills and South West Khasi Hills and West Jaintia Hills.

Out of 47 newly recovered cases, Dr War said 7 are from West Garo Hills, 6 from East Garo Hills, 30 from East Khasi Hills, 3 from Ri Bhoi and 1 from South West Garo Hills.

So far, the state has recorded a total of 3,447 positive cases out of which 1,534 are active, 1,889 recovered and 24 have died due to the viral infection.

East Khasi Hills has the highest number of active cases with 961 cases that includes 776 civilians and 185 AF/PF, followed by West Garo Hills with 204 cases, 139 in East Jaintia Hills, 125 in Ri Bhoi, 34 in West Khasi Hills, 20 in South Garo HIlls, 16 in East Garo HIlls, 13 in West Jaintia Hills, 12 in North Garo HIlls, 9 in South West Garo HIlls and 1 in South West Khasi HIlls

Till date, a total of 1,09580 samples have been tested of which 1,04937 were found to be negative while test results of 1,134 are awaited. There are 35,237 entrants from outside the state.