AP records first Covid death of 2023 in Vizag; patient had pre-existing ailments
KGH officials said this death was caused by the patient’s pre-existing diseases and should not be considered to be caused by COVID alone
By Sri Lakshmi Muttevi Published on 26 Dec 2023 11:06 AM GMT
Visakhapatnam: Andhra Pradesh reported its first COVID-19 death, at King George Hospital in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday. The deceased is a woman who was admitted to the hospital and she was suffering from pre-existing ailments. This is probably the first Covid-19 death after two years of pandemic.
The woman is a 51-year-old resident of Kancharapalem in Visakhapatnam. Her body was shifted for cremation as per the Covid-19 protocol.
According to the statement given by the KGH officials, the death was caused by the patient’s pre-existing health issues and should not be considered to be caused by Covid alone.
KGH superintendent Dr P. Ashok Kumar, in an official statement, said that the woman was admitted to the Chest Hospital on December 22 with ARDS (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome) along with acute kidney failure and MODS (Multi Organ Dysfunction Syndrome).
“A Covid-19 test was also conducted as part of the routine investigation and the RT-PCR sample was found positive,” Dr Ashok said.
For further treatment through dialysis and other procedures, the patient was referred to King George Hospital and admitted on December 24.
“The sample was sent to the Vijayawada Central Laboratory for Corona Genome determination and we are waiting for the result to know if it is JN.1 variant. Despite our best efforts, we could not save the patient and declared her dead at 3 am on December 26,” Dr Ashok said.
Vizag reports three JN.1 cases
So far, the city has reported three cases of JN.1, a sub-variant of the SARS-COV-2 Coronavirus.
The symptoms for the JN.1 variant are the same as the previous variants, except for more gastrointestinal symptoms and less pronounced fever. The RT-PCR tests can determine whether a patient is positive or negative for a new variant.
India logged a single-day rise of 628 new Covid-19 cases on Monday taking the total number of active cases to 4,054. Also, 63 of the reported cases were found to have the newly discovered JN.1 sub-variant.
