Two more dies of COVID-19 in Meghalaya, death toll rises to 34

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaSeptember 18, 2020

Two women, who tested positive for COVID-19 succumbed to the viral infection, taking the death toll to 34, even as 89 new positive cases were detected on Friday, taking the count to 1,976.

44-year-old Jamuna Suna, who stays at Pinewood Quarter near Wards Lake passed away at at Nazareth hospital on Friday, while another 60-year-old Anjalee Barua from Laitumkhrah Nongrimmaw Block-C (Lucky Cottage) was declared brought dead at the same private hospital, Director of Health Services (MI), Dr Aman War told reporters.

He said Suna was admitted at the hospital on September 15, and was tested positive for COVID-19 on the same day. However, she passed away at around 9.20 am today, due to COVID-19, acute gastroenteritis, severe anemia with thrombocytopenia. She also had comorbidities like hypothyroidism, hypertension and renal failure, Dr War said.

“Burua collapsed after lunch and was taken to Nazareth hospital but was declared brought dead at 12.45 pm. The swab samples of Barua, which were collected at the hospital after she died, tested positive for COVID-19,” he said.

Of the 89 new cases, the senior medical officer also said 70, including 67 civilians and 3 armed forces and paramilitary forces (AF/PF) personnel, were detected from East Khasi Hills district, 14 from East Jaintia Hills district, 2 from West Garo Hills district, and one each from Ri Bhoi district, South West Garo Hills district and South West Khasi Hills district.

He said two dental surgeons at the Shillong civil hospital, and two other health workers including a lab technician from the District Medical & Health Officer (DM&HO) office were among the new cases detected in East Khasi Hills. The other include 41 high risk cases, 4 returnees, 2 influenza like illness (ILI) cases, 1 Golflink cluster, 1 Laban cluster, 4 Mawprem cluster, 5 Nongmynsong cluster, 3 Khyndai-Lad cluster, 1 Umlyngka cluster.

All 14 cases in East Jaintia Hills were detected from the Star Cement cluster at Lumshnong village while the case in South West Khasi Hills is also a health worker at the mini secretariat, Mawkyrwat.  

He said 95 more patients have recovered from the viral infection on Friday.These include 38 from Ri Bhoi, 28 from West Garo Hills, 19 from East Khasi Hills, 5 from North Garo Hills, 3 from West Khasi Hills and 2 from West Jaintia Hills.

So far, the state has recorded a total of 4,447 positive cases of which 1,976 are active, 2,437 recovered and 34 deaths.

East Khasi Hills has the highest number of active cases with 1,369 cases that include 1,133 civilians and 236 AF/PFpersonnel, followed by East Jaintia Hills with 279 cases, 134 in West Garo Hills, 129 in Ri Bhoi, 18 in South Garo HIlls, 15 in South West Garo Hills, 10 in West Khasi Hills 6 in South West Khasi Hills, 5 in East Garo Hills and 3 in North Garo Hills.

Till date, a total of 1,29,503 samples have been tested of which 1,24,315 were found to be negative while test results of 743 are awaited. There are 37,743 entrants from outside the state.