Former Indian President Pranab Mukherjee died after being diagnosed with novel Coronavirus disease

Former Indian President Pranab Mukherjee died Monday after weeks in hospital and a diagnosis of novel Coronavirus. He was 84.

On Aug. 10, Mr. Mukherjee was taken to the Army Research and Referral Hospital in New Delhi to clear a blood clot in his head after he fell. There, his novel Coronavirus tested positive. He announced the diagnosis on Twitter and asked anyone in close contact with him to “self-quarantine and get tested.”

Mukherjee’s brain surgery was reportedly successful, but on Sunday his condition deteriorated, causing a lung infection and putting him into septic shock. After the operation, he remained in a coma and was kept alive on a ventilator. Mukherjee died of multiple organ failure 21 days after being diagnosed with novel Coronavirus disease.

Abhijit Mukherjee, the son of the former president, confirmed the news on Twitter.

“It is with a heavy heart that I have to tell you that my father Sri Pranab Mukherjee has just passed away despite the best efforts of the doctors at the Army Research and Referral hospital,” he tweeted.

Mukherjee served as president from 2012 to 2017, the pinnacle of his 51-year political career. In India, the presidency is largely ceremonial. The prime minister is the chief official in charge of government affairs. Mukherjee has served as minister of finance, foreign affairs and defense, and has served on the boards of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

He entered politics in 1969 when he helped an independent candidate win re-election to Congress in a special election. The then prime minister, Indira Gandhi, recruited him to her Indian National Congress.

“His death is the end of an era,” India’s current president, Ram Nath Kovind, said on Twitter. “As a giant in public life, he served India in the spirit of a saint. The whole nation mourns the loss of one of its most precious sons.”

Narendra Modi, prime minister of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress’s rival, wrote that Mr Mukherjee had “left an indelible mark on the trajectory of our country”. As a sign of respect, he tweeted a picture of himself bending down and stroking Mukherjee’s feet.