8-month-old, monk die of Covid-19 in Meghalaya, Arunachal

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Shillong/Itanagar, July 7 (IANS) An eight-month-old baby, who was brought from Arunachal Pradesh to Shillong with Covid-19 symptoms, died before being testing positive while a 40-year-old Buddhist monk, who was suffering from kidney-related ailments, succumbed to the disease in Arunachal Pradesh, officials said on Tuesday.

Meghalaya Health and Family Welfare Minister A. L. Hek said in Shillong that the baby, brought to the North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences, died on Monday night within hours of testing positive.

However, the baby's parents and their driver, however, tested negative. The baby is the second Covid-19 patient to die in Meghalaya. The state's first death, of a veteran doctor, was on April 15. So far, Meghalaya has reported 95 Covid-19 cases. Of them, 50 are undergoing treatment and 43 have recovered, besides the two deaths.

Officials of the Health and Family Welfare Department in Itanagar said that the monk, who tested positive on June 19 shortly after his return from New Delhi, died at the Tomo Riba Institute of Health and Medical Sciences at Naharlagun on Monday night.

The monk had been staying in the border town of Tawang and shifted to Arunachal's lone medical college after he was detected positive. According to the officials, the monk's two brothers also tested positive.

This is the second Covid-19 death in Arunachal Pradesh. A 43-year-old woman died on June 25.

The northeastern state so far detected 270 Covid-19 cases, out of which 176 case are active, while 92 persons have been discharged after their recovery and two have died. Arunachal Pradesh, which remained coronavirus free until May 23, witnessed a sudden increase in cases after natives started returning from different parts of the country.

--IANS

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