Meghalaya: Two elderly patients die of COVID-19, death toll rises to 42

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaSeptember 23, 2020

Two elderly persons have succumbed to COVID-19 on Wednesday, taking the death toll in the state to 42.

75-year-old Deepak Dutta of Circuit House Kench’s Trace passed away at the North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS) at 2.40 am while 68-year-old Ryena Begum of Mahendraganj died at Ampati Civil hospital at 10.50 am today. Both were tested positive for COVID-19, Director Health of Services (MI), Dr Aman War told reporters.

He said Dutta, who was a patient with chronic kidney disease, died due type 1 respiratory failure with septic shock and Begum was a known case of diabetes mellitus, hypertension and stroke.

Of the 170 new cases, the senior medical officer said 117, including 116 civilians and 1 armed forces/paramilitary forces (AF/PF) personnel were detected from East Khasi Hills district, 37 from Ri Bhoi district that include 27 police personnel from the North Eastern Police Academy (NEPA) and who have travel history to Assam, and 10 high risk contacts.

Three cases each were also detected from East Jaintia Hills district and West Jaintia Hills district and five each from West Garo Hills district and North Garo Hills district.

He also informed that 153 persons have recovered from the viral infection and these include 113 from East Khasi Hills, 17 from Ri Bhoi, 17 from West Garo Hills, 2 from East Jaintia Hills, 1 from South Garo Hills and 3 from South West Garo Hills.

The state has so far recorded a total of 4,961 positive cases of which 2,060 are active, 2,859 recovered and 42 deaths.

East Khasi Hills, where the state capital is located, has the highest number of active cases with 1,472 that include 1,298 civilians and 174 AF/PF personnel, followed by East Jaintia Hills with 275 cases, 156 in Ri Bhoi, 95 in West Garo Hills, 13 in West Khasi Hills, 12 in West Jaintia Hills, 11 in South West Garo Hills, 9 in North Garo Hills, 6 each in East Garo Hills and South West Khasi Hills, and 5 in South Garo Hills.

Till date, a total of 1,36,932 samples have been sent for testing of which 1,31,971 were found to be negative. There are 39,808 entrants from outside the state.