Suspected virus victim in Tamil Nadu died of renal failure

PUDUKKOTTAI: Seeking to put to rest the controversy over the suspected death of a China returnee in Tamil Nadu’s Pudukkottai district due to the novel coronavirus (nCoV) infection, the public health authorities here on Tuesday that 42-year-old Sakthikumar died of renal failure.

Sakthikumar of Avudayarkovil near Arantangi in Pudukkottai district, it may be recalled, was enterprising enough to run a hotel in China, but had recently returned to his village after a attack of jaundice.

Sakthikumar was forced to fly back to China to run his hotel, following anxieties over lack of sufficient number of people to take care of his eatery there. When his jaundice turned severe, he had no other option but to again return home on February 4. Subsequently, he was admitted to a private hospital in Madurai on Friday last and died on Saturday, not responding to treatment, sources in his family said.