COVID-19 cases rise sharply to 244 in Uttarakhand

In the highest single-day spike in COVID-19 cases in Uttarakhand, ninety two more people tested positive for it on Saturday taking the state's coronavirus tally to 244 while one woman infected with it died at AIIMS Rishikesh.

Nainital reported the highest number of 55 cases and the rest of the cases were reported from Dehradun, Haridwar, Rudraprayag, Pauri Garhwal, Almora, Champawat, Pithoragarh and Uttarkashi, a state health department bulletin said. A majority of the cases had a travel history to Delhi, Mumbai, Gurgaon and Rajasthan, it said.

With migrants returning home in large numbers, there has been a sudden rise in the number of cases being reported daily in Uttarakhand. Meanwhile, another COVID-19 patient died at AIIMS, Rishikesh late on Friday night with authorities attributing her death to respiratory failure/ carcinoma oesophagus and not to the coronavirus

This is the second instance of a COVID-19 patient dying in the state since the outbreak of the pandemic. The patient was also suffering from cancer and had undergone an operation recently, COVID-19 nodal officer for corona cases at AIIMS, Rishikesh Madhur Uniyal said.

The first COVID-19 patient had died in Uttarakhand on May 1. The 56-year-old woman had been admitted at AIIMS, Rishikesh after a brain stroke. She had also tested positive for COVID-19 after being admitted at the facility and died there a few days later. The state health authorities had attributed her death to ventricular tachycardia secondary to ACS.