Hyderabad, June 7  A 36-year-old journalist working

for a Telugu television channel succumbed to COVID-19 at the state-run Gandhi Hospital here on Sunday.

He was admitted on June 4 after being referred from another state-run hospital.

The journalist had bilateral pneumonia with Type-1 respiratory failure and Acute Respiratory Disease Syndrome (ARDS) when he was admitted, doctors at the hospital said.

He was also suffering from Myasthenia Gravis, a long-term neuromuscular disease that leads to varying degrees of skeletal muscle weakness, they said.

“He was in the ICU and was being attended to by a team of doctors round the clock. I myself also visited him very frequently.

But this morning, he had a cardiac arrest and was declared dead at 9:37 am,” Gandhi Hospital superintendent Dr M Raja Raosaid.

Over the past one week some journalists have tested positive for coronavirus in the state and are undergoing treatment.

Telangana has been witnessing a major surge in COVID-19 cases,with 206 infections and 10 deaths being reported on Saturday, taking the tally in the state to 3,496 and fatalities to 123.

Press Trust of India