Tanzanian diplomat dies of Covid as missions battle surge in Capital

Rezaul H Laskar and Rahul Singh

The defence advisor at the high commission of Tanzania has died of Covid-19, the first death within the diplomatic community in New Delhi amid the devastating second wave of Coronavirus infections sweeping across the country.

Col Moses Beatus Mlula was taken to a leading private hospital of New Delhi in a serious condition on April 27 but it declined to admit him, people familiar with developments said.

“He was waiting in front of the private hospital when his condition

NEW DELHI:

worsened. The army’s foreign division received a call for help and immediately took him to Base Hospital,” the people said. Mlula died on April 28 at the Base Hospital at Delhi Cantonment.

The people cited above said there were reports of Indian staff and junior diplomats testing positive at several foreign missions, including those of the Philippines, New Zealand, Thailand, Vietnam, Palestine, the US and Afghanistan. Some of those who tested positive were self-isolating at home while a handful had been hospitalised. There was no official word from Indian officials on these developments.

The foreign missions too are tight-lipped on issues such as whether the treatment of infected staff has been affected by the shortage of oxygen and hospital beds, especially after a spat between the government and the opposition Congress over Youth Congress volunteers delivering oxygen cylinders to the Philippines embassy and the New Zealand high commission.

The people cited above acknowledged that some missions faced difficulties in accessing both medicines and hospital beds but pointed out that this should be seen in the overall context of swamped healthcare facilities in Delhi and the NCR.