South actor Pia Bajpiee's brother passes away hours after her social media post requesting for urgent ventilator bed in UP

Actor Pia Bajpiee on Tuesday said her brother passed away after a frantic search for ventilator beds in Farrukhabad, Uttar Pradesh. Bajpiee, who predominantly works in Tamil and Telugu cinema, took to Twitter and posted an SOS call, writing that she urgently required a ventilator bed as her brother was “dying”. She didn’t specify if he had COVID-19. “I need urgent help in district Farukhabad, Kayamganj block, UP. A bed with ventilator. My brother is dying. Any lead please help. Please contact if you know anybody… We are already in mess (sic),” the 27-year-old actor wrote. Almost two hours later, the Ko actor tweeted, “My brother is no more.” Bollywood personalities like actors Vineet Kumar Singh, Danish Husain, filmmaker Onir and producer Guneet Monga among others offered their condolences to Bajpiee. For days now, Uttar Pradesh has figured among the 10 biggest contributors to India’s COVID-19 tally. According to an official statement, the state recorded 29,192 fresh COVID-19 cases on Monday that pushed its tally to 13,42,413 while 288 more fatalities took the death toll to 13,447. According to the Health Ministry’s data on Tuesday, India’s total tally of COVID-19 cases crossed the 2-crore mark with 3,57,229 infections being reported in a day, while the death toll increased to 2,22,408 with 3,449 new fatalities. The total tally of COVID-19 cases in the country has climbed to 2,02,82,833, it said.