Uttar Pradesh minister Kamal Rani Varun, who had tested positive for Coronavirus earlier, died due to the infection in state capital Lucknow, on Sunday morning. She was 62.

She had been admitted to the Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS) on July 18 and died at 9:30 am today, according to the  government statement.

Varun was Minister of Technical Education in the Uttar Pradesh government. Her cremation will take place in Kanpur later in the day.

The minister was on oxygen and ventilator support for the last few days.

President Ram Nath Kovind tweeted his condolence message. He said, Kamal Rani Varun was “well respected for serving people at the grassroots…”

“Saddened by the untimely demise of Smt Kamal Rani Varun, Cabinet Minister in the Uttar Pradesh Government. Well respected for serving people at the grassroots, she had also served as an MP in the Lok Sabha twice. My condolences to her family and followers,” he said.

Saddened by the untimely demise of Smt Kamal Rani Varun, Cabinet Minister in the Uttar Pradesh Government. Well respected for serving people at the grassroots, she had also served as an MP in the Lok Sabha twice. My condolences to her family and followers.

— President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) August 2, 2020

The council of minister held a condolence meeting and observed a two-minute silence on Varun’s demise.

According to an official statement issued by Prof RK Dhiman, director SGPGIMS, the minister had comorbidities in form of diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and hypothyroidism.

“She had bilateral pneumonia at admission and was shifted to ICU on the day of admission itself because of high oxygen requirement. Later, she required non-invasive ventilation (NIV) with high oxygen requirements,” the statement said.

“On evaluation, she had all the features of severe disease and she was given Inj. Remdesevir followed by Tocilizumab following which she had transient improvement in her clinical status for few days but again her condition started deteriorating with progressively increasing NIV and oxygen requirements,” the statement said.

She was immediately transfused with convalescent plasma and steroid doses were hiked.

She was put on mechanical ventilator on Saturday but her condition continued to deteriorate with hypotension and multi organ dysfunction and succumbed to her illness.

The Yogi Adityanath government has announced a state mourning after the demise of  Varun.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister was scheduled to visited the Ram Janmabhoomi complex in Ayodhya today to review preparations for the August 5 ‘bhumi poojan’ event, but cancelled his visit.

In the state, total positive COVID-19 cases stand at 89,068 and 1,677 people have died due to the virus. While, the state capital Lucknow is among the worst-affected with 100 deaths. Kanpur reported 202 fatalities and Meerut witnessed 108 deaths due to the infection.