Ex-ragi of Golden Temple dies a day after testing +ve
AMRITSAR: Bhai Nirmal Singh Khalsa, 67, a Padma Shri awardee and a former hazoori ragi (Gurbani exponent) at Amritsar’s Golden Temple, died of a heart attack on Thursday a day after he was diagnosed with coronavirus (Covid-19).
Amritsar’s civil surgeon, Dr Prabhdeep Kaur Johal, said Khalsa was put on ventilator on Wednesday night after his condition worsened due to his bronchial asthma.
“He had visited England in November. A health department team visited his house on March 3 after we got the information that two guests–his uncle and aunt– from the US visited him. When the home quarantine period of the guests was over on March 17, they were found asymptomatic. Bhai Nirmal Singh then went to Chandigarh for a kirtan samagam [a devotional event] on March 19 where over 100 people had gathered,” Johal said.
She added he tested positive for coronavirus on Wednesday. “He may have caught the infection during his trip to Chandigarh. He died of sudden cardiac arrest on Thursday.”
With his death, the toll from Covid-19 in Punjab has risen to six. Khalsa was referred to the Guru Nanak Dev Hospital on March 30 after he complained of breathlessness.
The Chandigarh Municipal
Corporation has quarantined 84 people, who had attended the religious gathering where Khalsa performed in the city on March 19. An official said the 84 include 14 members of a family.
The religious gathering was held at a house in Chandigarh’s Sector 27.