One more succumbs to COVID-19 in Himachal Pradesh, death toll now 17

Shimla: A 78-year-old woman died of COVID-19 in Himachal Pradesh's Mandi district on Tuesday, raising the death toll due to the disease to 17, officials said.

The hilly state also reported 18 fresh infections, taking the COVID-19 case tally to 3,482, they said.

The woman died at Shri Lal Bahadur Shashtri Government Medical College in Nerchowk 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 Panchkula and was admitted to the Nerchowk hospital on Monday.

The deaths linked to COVID-19 in Himachal Pradesh include that of 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 for the infection and 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, 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, two from Kangra and one each from Mandi and Solan, Sepcial Secretary (Health) Nipun Jindal said.

Meanwhile, 26 patients -- 15 in Kangra, six in Chamba, five in Mandi -- recovered from the infection on Tuesday, Jindal said.

With this, the number of recovered patients has risen to 2,231. Twenty-six patients have migrated out of the state, he added.

The number of active COVID-19 cases now stands at 1,206, he said.

Solan has the highest number of active cases in the state at 363, followed by 141 in Mandi, 137 in Chamba, 98 in Sirmaur, 91 each in Kangra and Una, 74 in Bilaspur, 72 in Kullu, 67 in Hamirpur, 65 in Shimla and seven in Kinnaur.

(PTI)