Shimla: The COVID-19 death toll in Himachal Pradesh rose to 12 after a 52-year-old man from Kangra district died in the early hours of Friday, officials said.
The patient, a resident of Amb village in Kangra’s Jwalamukhi, had comorbidities, Kangra Deputy Commissioner Rakesh Prajapati said.
Meanwhile, Himachal Pradesh on Friday recorded 120 fresh COVID-19 cases, including that of two more Army jawans in Kangra, bringing the state’s tally
to 1,955.
This is the highest single-day spike in COVID-19 cases. Earlier on July 20, 110 cases, while 109 cases surfaced on July 23.
Of the new cases, 38 were reported from Solan, 29 from Sirmaur, 26 from Mandi, 15 from Kangra, three each from Shimla and Hamirpur, two each from Kullu and Kinnaur and one each from Bilaspur and Una, Additional Chief Secretary (Health) R D Dhiman said.
The number of active cases now stands at 781. Solan has the highest number of active cases in the state at 311, followed by 154 in Sirmaur, 75 in Kangra, 66 in Shimla, 44 in Una, 45 in Mandi, 20 in Chamba, 17 each in Bilaspur, Kinnaur and Kullu and 15 in Hamirpur, the officials said.
The Kangra deputy commissioner said the man who died on Friday was also suffering from chronic liver disease.
He died in an ambulance when he was being taken to the zonal hospital in Dharamshala from the Severe Acute Respiratory (SARI) ward at Dr Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College (RPGMC) in Tanda, the officer said.
Earlier, the patient was being treated at the out-patient department (OPD) of PGIMER in Chandigarh.
He was admitted to the SARI ward in Tanda on July 23. His COVID-19 sample was taken and his test report came out positive for COVID-19.
The man was then referred to the zonal hospital in Dharamshala as per protocol.
The deaths due to COVID-19 in the state include a 70-year-old Delhi woman, who had been staying at a factory’s guest house at Baddi in Solan district since March 15. She tested positive and died at PGIMER in Chandigarh on April 2.
Initially, the state health department showed her death in its record but later it stopped doing so stating that as per protocol, her death should be included in Chandigarh, where she had tested positive.
Chandigarh authorities, however, said her death should be included in the record of Himachal Pradesh from where she had been referred to PGIMER.