Gorakhpur (Uttar Pradesh), April 1 A 25-year-old man from Basti district, who died on Monday evening in Gorakhpur's BRD Medical College, has become the first COVID-19-linked death in Uttar Pradesh.
His samples tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Wednesday, two days after he died.
Government officials are now worried about the number of people who may have been infected or exposed since he was earlier admitted to a hospital in Basti, which is around 50 kilometres from Gorakhpur.
Originally a resident of Basti, the youth had a history of travel to Mumbai but he hid this from the doctors.
The man had been admitted to Gorakhpur's BRD medical college hospital on Sunday, with breathing problem. However, here too he was admitted to the general ward and not the one reserved for COVID-19 patients.
After his condition worsened, he was shifted to the ICU where he succumbed to his medical condition on Monday.
His body was handed to relatives who brought it to Basti for the last rites.
The patient was admitted to the general ward, where the virus may have spread to staff and other patients.
The BRD Hospital doctors had sent his saliva sample to Lucknow's KGMU where his samples tested positive on Wednesday.
KGMU media in-charge Dr Sudhir Singh said that this makes him the first established death in the state due to coronavirus.
Dr O.P. Singh, hospital-in-charge, told reporters, "The man gave no information he had a travel history. This is the fault of the patient and his relatives. He said he had been ill for a month and had no fever at the time. He was diagnosed at the OPD (outpatient department) and admitted to general ward. If he or his relatives had said, even once, that he had returned from Mumbai, we would have immediately sent him to the Corona virus ward."
The Basti district administration has now sealed off the area in which he lived. All relatives he had contact with, have been identified and put into quarantine and also the doctors and paramedical staff at both, Basti and Gorakhpur hospitals.
Patients and relatives who came into contact with him during his stay at either hospital have also been identified and will be isolated and tested.
Gorakhpur is the constituency of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
While 104 cases have tested positive from various districts of Uttar Pradesh so far, this is the first death due to the disease.
According to state government data, Uttar Pradesh has, so far, confirmed 103 cases of the novel coronavirus. The biggest clusters are in Noida in the National Capital Region (39 cases) and Meerut district in the western part of the state (19 cases).
( With inputs from IANS )