This story is from March 29, 2020

Three die at Kanyakumari hospital isolation ward

Three, including a two-year-old boy, admitted to the COVID-19 isolation ward at Kanyakumari Government Medical College Hospital (KGMCH) died on Saturday. Their samples were sent for testing and results for two of them have returned negative.
Three die at Kanyakumari hospital isolation ward
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MADURAI: Three, including a two-year-old boy, admitted to the COVID-19 isolation ward at Kanyakumari Government Medical College Hospital (KGMCH) died on Saturday. Their samples were sent for testing and results for two of them have returned negative.
Other than the two-year-old, the other deceased were a 66-year-old man admitted on Thursday and a 24-year-old man admitted on Friday. Health secretary Dr Beela Rajesh said that all three had underlying health conditions as well.
"The two-year-old boy was suffering from osteopetrosis, a rare genetic disease. The 66-year-old man had chronic kidney disease (CKD), lymphoma and uremic encephalopathy. The 24-year-old had pneumonia and sepsis," she said. The samples of all three patients were sent for COVID-19 testing at Tirunelveli Government Medical College Hospital. So far, results of two of them, the 66-year-old and 24-year-old, have returned negative. The result of the two-year-old is expected to arrive by Sunday. Till then, the boy's body will be kept at the mortuary as per protocol.
Later on Saturday, KGMCH dean Dr R Suganthy held a press conference explaining the cause of death as diagnosed by a medical committee. "The 66-year-old man had diabetes and hypertension for over five years and cause of death was CKD. The 24-year-old man had developed fever, pneumonia and sepsis, and died due to multi-organ dysfunction. The two-year-old boy died of severe respiratory tract illness, osteopetrosis and septicaemia," said the doctor.
The dean added that the hospital had a 100-bed isolation ward with separate rooms kept ready for treating COVID-19 patients. "We are admitting any infectious and severely-ill patients with respiratory illnesses to the ward as a precautionary measure. So far, we have also treated 26 cases of severe respiratory illnesses and so far no one has tested positive for COVID-19 in the district," said Dr Suganthy. The dean requested arrangements for a COVID-19 testing lab to be started at KGMCH to facilitate faster test results.
The deaths of these three patients have taken the toll at the COVID-19 isolation ward there to five. The two previous deceased patients were a 26-year-old Kuwait returnee and a 59-year-old woman with no travel history. They both tested negative for COVID-19 after their deaths. According to collector Prashant M Wadnere, a total of 53 suspected cases of COVID-19 have been reported in the district as of Saturday evening.
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