Three elderly men succumb to COVID-19 in Pune; toll up to 8

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Pune, Apr 7 () Three more persons, all elderly men,succumbed to the coronavirus disease in Pune on Tuesday,taking the toll in the district to eight, while 18 new caseswere reported in the last 24 hours, an official said.

All three suffered from pre-existing illnesses and hadcontracted the novel coronavirus, District Collector NavalKishore Ram said.

They were undergoing treatment at the state-runSassoon General Hospital where they died, he added.

According to health officials, two of the deceasedwere 65 years old, while the third one was 67.

"All three patients had co-morbid conditions such ashigh blood pressure, diabetes and other ailments," they said.

Meanwhile, 18 more coronavirus positive cases werereported in Pune district in the last 24 hours (ended 6 pm onTuesday), taking the tally to 159, said district healthofficials.

Most of the cases recorded so far have been reportedfrom areas falling under the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC)jurisdiction, where the count is 131.

Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation localities (20)and rural areas (8) account for the other cases in thedistrict.

Given a surge in positive cases, the PMC on Mondaysealed vast areas in the central part of the city, which havereported a majority of the infections, and turned them intocontainment zones to halt the spread of the deadly virus. SPK GKRSY RSY