One death, 34 fresh COVID cases in Himachal Pradesh

Shimla, A 78-year-old woman died from COVID-19 in Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi district on Tuesday as 34 fresh cases surfaced, taking the total number of infections 3,498.

So far, the state has reported 17 deaths. The elderly woman died at Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri Government Medical College at Ner Chowk in Mandi, Senior Medical Superintendent Jeevanand Chauhan said.

She was a resident of Mandi’s Sandhole area in Sarkhaghat, he said, adding she had recently visited Haryana’s Panchkula and was admitted to the Mandi hospital on Monday.

The deaths linked to COVID-19 in Himachal Pradesh include that of a 70-year-old Delhi woman who had stayed at a factory’s guest house at Baddi in Solan district. She died at the PGIMER in Chandigarh on April 2.

The state health department initially showed her death in its record but it stopped doing so later, stating that as per protocol, her death should be included in Chandigarh where she had tested positive.

On the contrary, the Chandigarh authorities said her death should be included in the records of Himachal Pradesh from where she had been referred.

Of the fresh cases, 14 were reported from Chamba, eight from Sirmaur, six from Kangra, three from Solan and one each from Kullu, Mandi and Hamirpur, Special Secretary (Health) Nipun Jindal said.

Meanwhile, 68 patients — 17 in Kangra, 11 in Shimla, nine in Bilaspur, seven in Hamirpur, six in Chamba, five each in Mandi and Una, four in Sirmaur, two each in Kullu and Kinnaur– recovered from the infection, Jindal said.

With this, the number of recovered patients has risen to 2,273. Twenty-six patients have migrated out of the state, he added.

The number of active COVID-19 cases now stands at 1,180, he said. Solan has the highest number of active cases in the state at 365, followed by 141 in Mandi, 137 in Chamba, 102 in Sirmaur, 93 in Kangra, 86 in Una, 71 in Kullu, 65 in Bilaspur, 61 in Hamirpur, 54 in Shimla and five in Kinnaur.