Srinagar: Kashmir witnessed its second death due to COVID-19 in as many days on Monday after a 75-Year-old man from Anantnag died at Chest Diseases hospital taking the overall toll to 14 in J&K.
Official sources said the victim, a resident of Hillar Kokernag, had initially tested positive for coronavirus and was admitted at the CD hospital. A few days later, his repeat tests came out negative.
Later, he was taken to SMHS for an emergency procedure known as tracheostomy—which involves creating an opening in the neck in order to place a tube into a person’s windpipe to allow air to enter the lungs. It was there when his fresh sample, known as tracheal aspirate rather than the ordinary—naso/oropharyngeal— swab was taken.
The test returned positive following which he was again taken to CD hospital where he died on Monday.
Dr Salim Tak, Medical Superintendent CD hospital confirmed the death of the man.
“He was continuously on ventilator for the last eight days. He was suffering from Pneumonia,” he said.
The death comes a day after a 29-year-old woman with underlying ailments died at the CD hospital here. She was the youngest victim of the dreaded disease in J&K so far.
With this fatality, 14 persons have died due to the disease so far in Jammu and Kashmir—12 of them in Kashmir and two in the Jammu division.
The Srinagar district has reported 5 of the deaths, highest in any district, followed by Baramulla (3), 2 in Anantnag while one each has been reported in Bandipora, Budgam, Udhampur, and Jammu. (GNS inputs)
