Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam legislator J Anbazhagan died of Covid-19 at a Chennai hospital on Wednesday, reported The Times of India. “His condition deteriorated rapidly on Tuesday night,” a senior doctor told the newspaper. “We could not bring him back.” The leader died on his 62nd birthday.

Anbazhagan was admitted to Dr Rela Institute and Medical Centre on June 2 after he complained of severe acute respiratory distress. He tested positive for the coronavirus and was put on ventilator support on June 3. The MLA is said to have contracted the virus while distributing Covid-19 relief material, reported The News Minute.

Initially, he had started to show some improvement, but his health condition started deteriorating from Monday. “His oxygen requirement has gone up once again and his cardiac function also is deteriorating requiring medicine support for blood pressure,” Chief Executive Officer Dr Ilankumaran Kaliamoorthy had said in a statement on Tuesday. “His existing chronic kidney disease is also worsening. His condition currently is described as critical.”

During his stay at the hospital, state Health Minister C Vijayabaskar and DMK President MK Stalin had visited the facility and enquired about his health, reported PTI.

The MLA represented Chepauk-Triplicane constituency in Chennai. In 2001, Anbazhagan was first elected as MLA from the Theagaraya Nagar constituency. He had served as the legislator from the Chepauk constituency in 2011 and 2016. He was also a district secretary in the party.

Tamil Nadu reported 1,685 new cases and 21 deaths on Tuesday. With this, the state’s tally rose to 34,914 and the toll reached 307.

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