The journalist who died of Covid-19 symptoms on Tuesday night had contracted coronavirus, according to hospital authorities.
Humayun Kabir Khokon, city editor of Bangla newspaper Daily Shomoyer Alo, breathed his last at the Regent Hospital in Uttara on Tuesday night with Covid-19 symptoms, Regent Hospital Chairman Md Shahed confirmed on Tuesday night.
On Wednesday, Md Shahed told reporters that Khokon was Covid-19 positive.
“We collected his samples when he came to the hospital. The test results that came back shows he was Covid-19 positive,” Shahed said.
Khokon died with fever, cough, and shortness of breath. He was 46 years old.
The hospital confirmation makes him the first journalist to die of Covid-19 in Bangladesh.
Regent hospital authorities said they instructed Khokon’s wife and his children to be isolated at home. The doctors will monitor them regularly.
Khokon was buried in the family graveyard at Muradnagar of Comilla district on Wednesday morning.
Following Khokon’s death, Daily Shomoyer Alo asked all of its employees to work from home from Thursday. The head office located at Banglamotor of Dhaka would be closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to Khokon’s colleagues and family members, he was working from home for the last 14 days as he was suffering from cold and fever.
However, on Tuesday evening, he suddenly fell ill and fainted. His family took him to Regent Hospital, where the duty doctors pronounced him dead at around 10pm.
Shahed said: “Khokon’s family brought him to our hospital at around 7:30pm. We received him in a clinically dead state. Around 10pm he was officially pronounced dead.
"We couldn’t put him under life support as he was clinically dead before he was brought into the hospital. He had been suffering breathing complications.
“We suspect that he may have had Covid-19, but his family did not say anything to us regarding that,” he added.
A native of Comilla, Khokon worked at the Daily Amader Shomoy, daily Manabzamin, and some other newspapers for a long time before joining Shomoyer Alo.
Information minister and some other ministers and journalist organizations expressed deep shock and conveyed condolence over his passing.
