Hyderabad, June 7 (IANS) A 36-year-old journalist died of COVID-19 in Hyderabad on Sunday, officials confirmed.

The scribe from a Telugu television channel succumbed at Gandhi Hospital, where he was admitted four days ago after being tested positive for COVID-19.

He is the first journalist in Telangana to have succumbed to the dreaded virus.

According to doctors, the journalist died of COVID-19 and comorbidities. He was suffering from bilateral pneumonitis and Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS). He was also diagnosed with Myasthenia Gravis that paralyses all muscles including respiratory muscles. He had also undergone thymus gland surgery.

Hospital sources said his condition started deteriorating early Sunday and he was put on a ventilator.

The scribe's death came as a shock to the journalist fraternity in Hyderabad. A few journalists had tested positive for COVID-19 last week. Some of them were asymptomatic.

The state has been witnessing a surge in the number of Covid cases for the last few days. On Saturday it reported 206 new cases, the highest single-day jump since March 2 when the first case was reported. Ten people also died of the dreaded virus, pushing the state's death toll to 123.

--IANS ms/sdr/