Woman dies of comorbidity in Meghalaya, COVID-19 death toll remains unchanged at 5

The deceased was the wife of a Border Security Force (BSF) personnel and hailed from Chhattisgarh. "She died of kidney failure and not COVID-19," Director of Health Services Dr Aman War told reporters. The health services director said that five deaths due to COVID-19 remains unchanged in the state. On Tuesday, 41 people tested positive for COVID-19 in the state, including eight personnel of the armed forces.

A 47-year-old woman, who had tested positive for COVID-19, died of a pre-existing ailment at the North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS) here, a senior official said on Tuesday. The deceased was the wife of a Border Security Force (BSF) personnel and hailed from Chhattisgarh.

"She died of kidney failure and not COVID-19," Director of Health Services Dr Aman War told reporters. The health services director said that five deaths due to COVID-19 remains unchanged in the state.

On Tuesday, 41 people tested positive for COVID-19 in the state, including eight personnel of the armed forces. Of the 41, 10 health workers from the NEIGRIHMS have contracted the coronavirus infection, the senior official said.

"Of them, one is a doctor, five are staff nurses and the rest are patients and attendants," he said. NEIGRIHMS officials said, health workers and patients at the facility were exposed to COVID-19 after a BSF jawan, who was admitted at the hospitals non-COVID ward, tested positive for novel coronavirus.

In all, 22 health care staff of the institute are under quarantine after they were found to be infected with the virus. With the fresh cases reported on Tuesday, Meghalaya has 580 active COVID-19 cases, while 181 people have recovered from the infection, War said.

Meanwhile, business establishments and all shops, excluding pharmacies, were shut as part of the 72-hour lockdown in the state capital which began on Sunday midnight. The lockdown 2.0 was reimposed in Shillong with an aim to identify, isolate and prevent the spread of COVID-19, Health Minister A L Hek said.