A 56-year-old staff who was attached to the Office of the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu has, on Wednesday, died to the Coronavirus infection at the government hospital in Chennai, becoming one of the top-level secretaries of the state government died of the pandemic.

The deceased was identified as Damodharan and he was working as a senior private secretary to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami. Earlier this month, he was tested positive for COVID-19 and admitted at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital in Chennai under isolation.

However, he succumbed to the virus on Wednesday. According to the reports, Damodharan was at the rank of undersecretary he was initially tested negative for COVID-19 when the state health department conducted the COVID-19 tests for all the staff attached to the Chief Minister's office in the Secretariat. 

Days after he tested negative, Damodharan developed fever and difficulty in breathing following which he was admitted to the government-run hospital in Chennai where he was tested positive. Despite the treatment, he had succumbed to the virus at the hospital. The deceased officer had been working as one of the Chief Minister's secretaries from 2011 when Jayalalithaa was the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.

The reports added that the deceased was one of the five staff members in the Chief Minister's office who were tested positive for the pandemic after which the authorities carried out the extensive process of disinfecting the premises of the Chief Secretariat on last Saturday and Sunday.

Upon the demise of the officer, Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami had placed his condolences to Damodharan's family and he also assured a government job for one of the family members of the deceased. DMK President Stalin has also expressed his condolences to the secretary's family.