Puducherry reports first case of COVID-19; patient had travel history to UAE

A 68-year-old woman with a travel history to UAE tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday (March 17), said Puducherry Health Minister Malladi Krishna Rao.

The woman, a resident of Mahe district in Puducherry, is said to be stable and has been quarantined in the government hospital at Mahe.

According to sources, the woman was visiting a relative in UAE’s Umrah and showed symptoms of COVID-19, including fever and cough, at the Kozhikode International Airport when she returned to India.

Subsequently, she was tested for the virus at Kozhikode Medical College. She was then sent to the government hospital to be quarantined on Saturday (March 14). Her test reports confirming that she was infected with COVID-19 came back on Tuesday.

Puducherry Health Minister Malladi Krisha Rao said she was being monitored continuously and that her relatives are being quarantined at home for 12 days to prevent the spread of the virus.

Malladi further said that her relatives were also tested for COVID-19 and that the reports were yet to come.

Meanwhile, a Thailand national, who was quarantined in Coimbatore Medical College Hospital in Tamil Nadu and had tested negative for coronavirus, died on Tuesday morning.

Doctors at CMCH said he had died due to complications caused by diabetic nephropathy.