Diabetic man who tested positive for Covid-19 dies

THANE/MUMBAI: A 21-year-old male with diabetic ketoacidosis tested positive for Covid late on Friday at the civic-run Chhattrapati Shivaji Maharaj Hospital, Kalwa, before passing away on Saturday morning.

State health department officials maintained that ketoacidosis—and not Covid-19—claimed the boy’s life. He was the fourth patient in greater Mumbai to test positive for Covid before dying this week.“These four patients had severe life-threatening comorbidities, and Covid was an incidental finding in them,” said a senior state doctor. There has been a surge in Covid-19 cases in the last 10 days, but doctors in both the private and public sectors said the disease is mild in most patients.On May 19, KEM Hospital in Parel registered two deaths among Covid-positive patients—a 14-year-old girl with kidney disease and a 59-year-old cancer patient. A private hospital reported the death of a Covid-19 patient admitted with severe heart problems to the BMC two days ago. Regarding Saturday’s death, doctors from Chhattrapati Shivaji Maharaj Hospital said that the youngster was brought to the hospital in a severe condition.

“He had type 1 diabetes, developed ketoacidosis, and needed ventilator support immediately,” one of the doctors said.Thane city recorded 19 Covid patients in the last four days until Saturday, with one patient admitted to a private facility and 17 being treated at home. According to the state Covid update on Saturday, 213 patients tested positive since Jan, with 207 detections in May so far. The union health ministry issued a release, stating, “Some Covid-19 cases have been reported mainly from states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka.

“Infectious diseases specialist Dr Vasant Nagvekar from H N Hospital said that although Covid cases are on the rise, most have self-limiting disease. Meanwhile, the state govt has set up a 30-bedded Covid ward at Cama Hospital near CST. (Additional reporting by Malathy Iyer)