Tamil Nadu’s Covid-19 death toll rises to four – Times of India

CHENNAI: A 71-year-old man, who died in Chennai’s Stanley Medical College Hospital on Thursday, was suffering from Covid-19, test results showed on Saturday evening. With this, Covid-19 death toll in Tamil Nadu rose to four.
The man’s body was taken to Keezhakarai in Ramanathapuram district where it was buried on Friday. Public health officials in Ramanathapuram were asked to track the family members who travelled with the body and all others who took part in the last rites.
Late on Saturday night, directorate of public health issued revised protocols making it mandatory for all deaths following severe acute respiratory infection to be considered Covid-19 until tests show they are negative.
The man, who returned from Dubai on March 16, came to hospital on Thursday with severe breathing difficulties. “He was admitted to hospital at 9am and was declared dead by 11am. Duty doctors took samples and sent them to the laboratory for test,” said health secretary Beela Rajesh.
The hospital packed the body in a body bag as per protocol and handed it over to his family members. Doctors told the family member that his test results were awaited.
The family members took the body to Ramanathapuram in an ambulance. They reached Keezhakarai the next day. His body was buried at a mosque around 10am on Friday.
Inquiries revealed that around 50 members had attended the last rites. “In all the deaths so far, hospital authorities and district officials ensured that there were not more than three or four people near the body. We do not allow them to open the bag. They can just see the face of the deceased,” said director of public health Dr K Kolandasamy. “We are told that they had not opened the body in Ramanathapuram too, but we are verifying it,” he said.

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