Tirumala priest succumbs to Covid-19 in Andhra Pradesh

A 48-year-old priest of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams temple has succumbed to Covid-19 and cardiac arrest.

The priest employed at the Sri Govindaraja Swamy temple in Tirupati was on deputation to the Lord Venkateswara temple in Tirumala where he was performing the rituals, a TTD official told DH.

Around 200 employees of the TTD were tested as positive till now. This is the first death of a TTD priest, because of Covid-19.

The priest passed away on Thursday evening at the Sri Padmavathi Covid-19 Care Centre in the Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences (SVIMS) in Tirupati.

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“The deceased has comorbidities and is a diabetic, obese patient. He was admitted in the hospital following shortness of breath on August 2 and was having 88 percent oxygen level at that time. He was shifted to ICU for better monitoring and was on Oxygen and non-invasive Ventilation on and off. However, on Thursday evening, he was unresponsive to CPR as he developed shortness of breath and was declared dead by the hospital authorities,” a statement from the TTD said.

TTD Chairman YV Subba Reddy expressed shock over the demise and stated that TTD would provide all necessary support to the bereaved family.

Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh has added 10,328 new cases on Thursday taking the Covid-19 tally to 1,96,789 in the state. 1753 people died because of Covid-19 and comorbidities till now.