Palakkad native Meenakshi Ammal, 73, died on June 2 but her serum samples returned positive on Thursday.
Meenakshi Ammal is said to have many comorbidities like diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. She had also developed severe pneumonia. Meenakshi, who had gone to Chennai two months ago to be with her son, had arrived from Chennai in a private vehicle via Walayar on May 25. Her brother and her grandson were with her.
Since they arrived from a red spot area, they were asked to undergo strict quarantine. Meenakshi Ammal went into quarantine in her brother's house at Mannambetta in Palakkad.
On May 28, she developed a high fever and was shifted to Palakkad District Hospital. Her condition swiftly worsened, with both diabetes and her already existing heart condition flaring up.
The first test done on her showed negative for COVID-19. The second sample was taken after her death on June 4. It was her pneumonia that prompted doctors to send her samples once again for testing.
On June 2, when Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was asked whether she had died of COVID-19, he had said the results were yet to come. Today, the presence of the virus in Meenakshi Ammal was confirmed by culture minister AK Balan.
This takes the total number of COVID-19 deaths in Kerala to 15.
Here is the list of the deceased:
Shabnas (Edappal in Malappuram district), Xavier (Kavanad in Kollam district), Meenakshi Ammal (73, Palakkad) Father K G Varghese (77, Nalanchira in Thiruvananthapuram), Sulaikha (56, Kozhikode); Jose Joy (38, Pandanad, Chengannur); Joshy (68, Thiruvalla); Telangana native, Asiya (62, Kozhikode); Amina (52, Wayanad), Khadeejakkutty (73, Thrissur), Yakub Husain Sait (69, Ernakulam), Abdul Azeez (68, Thiruvananthapuram), Mehroof (67, Mahe, UT of Puducherry) and four-month-old baby (Malappuram).
Mehroof and the Telangana native deaths are included in Kerala's list based on a union government guideline, which stated that deaths should be accounted where it occurs irrespective of which state the person hailed from.