Chennai,  Tamil Nadu on Wednesday woke up to the dreaded news of its first death of a Coronavirus/COVID-19 patient in Madurai.

In a tweet, Health Minister C. Vijayabaskar said the COVID-19 positive patient in Madurai died at the Rajaji Hospital.

Vijayabaskar said the patient had a medical history of prolonged illness with steroid dependent chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and uncontrolled diabetes with hypertension.

He also said the COVID-19 with comorbidity like uncontrollable diabetes and hypertension, immunosuppression are high risk conditions and asked people with such conditions to be extra cautious.

Out of the total 18 COVID-19 infected persons in the state, one person was discharged from the hospital and one death, the total number of patients now are 16.